Restorative Dental Services in Birmingham, AL

For those times when your children need a damaged tooth repaired or a missing tooth replaced, Angelica Rohner Pediatric Dentistry offers a complete menu of restorative dentistry treatments, so those precious little smiles remain healthy and happy.

Restore Your Child’s Healthy Smile

We offer several restorative dentistry options including: dental fillings, stainless steel and Zirconium dental crowns, cosmetic bonding, tooth extractions, recontouring and space maintenance. Whether your child’s teeth are short, worn, chipped, broken, or missing, our experienced team can renew their healthy smile.

Cosmetic Bonding

Cosmetic Bonding is a common solution for:

• Fixing or repairing chipped or cracked teeth
• Reducing unsightly gaps or spaces between teeth
• Hiding discoloration or faded areas on the tooth’s surface

Often, cosmetic bonding is used to improve the appearance of your child’s teeth and enhance your child’s smile. The composite material, either a plastic or resin, is bonded to an existing but damaged tooth. Unlike veneers or crowns, composite bonding removes little, if any, of the original tooth structure.

Why Choose Cosmetic Bonding?

• It takes less than one hour.
• It does not reduce the tooth’s original structure.
• It’s relatively inexpensive.
• Composite resins come in many different shades and provide better matching of shades to the natural color of your child’s teeth.
• Dental bonding, however, is not as durable and long-lasting as veneers or crowns and may need to be re-touched or replaced in the future.

Composite resin bonds can also stain and may require extra care and more frequent cleaning. In order to ensure the longest possible duration of the bonding, composites should be brushed and flossed daily. And beverages like coffee, soda, and tea should be avoided.

Stainless Steel Crowns

For children, a stainless steel crown is commonly used to fit over a primary tooth that has been damaged because of severe decay or traumatic injury. The crown encapsulates the tooth and protects it from further damage. When the primary tooth falls out, the crown just comes out with it. Stainless steel crowns are preferred for children's teeth because they are less costly than custom-designed crowns and placing them doesn’t require multiple appointments.

Zirconium Crowns

If the tooth in your child’s mouth that requires a crown is one that clearly shows when they smile, then you’ll want to choose a material that closely mimics the appearance of a natural tooth. Zirconium crowns not only match the color and translucency of their other teeth, they are strong enough to withstand the pressure of biting. Moreover, zirconium is a biocompatible material that is completely safe and is well tolerated by the body.

Teeth Whitening

Our teeth naturally darken over time. Changes in the color of teeth can also be caused by other factors like consuming certain food and beverages. Other known factors for discoloration may include childhood medications and illnesses, or improper oral hygiene. Restoring your older child’s naturally white smile is a priority for Dr. Rohner. Therefore we provide a variety of options for whitening your older child or teen’s smile.

Tooth whitening services are growing in popularity, and it’s one of the most requested services offered by our practice. There are many over-the-counter products focused on whiter teeth, the reality is that most of these “solutions” typically don’t work.

Dr. Rohner offers industry-approved whitening methods. Our goal is to meet the needs of every patient, and every patient’s needs are different. Sometimes we use a gentle hydrogen-peroxide gel-activated solution. This process will whiten a smile in just one visit. Call us today for a whitening evaluation, because everyone deserves a bright, white smile!

Dental Fillings

Dental fillings can replace and restore your child’s tooth structure that has damaged due to decay or fracture. Dr. Rohner will replace old, broken-down metal fillings (that contain traces of mercury) with new tooth colored fillings (composites) to restore your child’s smile with a more natural look and feel. With today’s modern advancements, we can use state-of-the-art, tooth-colored resin or porcelain materials to avoid the embarrassment of unsightly and unhealthy metal fillings.

Tooth Colored Fillings vs. Metal Fillings:

• Tooth colored fillings bond directly to the tooth, which strengthens the tooth by restoring most of its original shape. Metal fillings weaken the teeth and make them more susceptible to breaking, which can be very expensive to fix.
• Tooth colored fillings are preferred by most patients. This is due to their natural color, strength, and overall appearance and feel.
• Hot and cold sensitivity is greatly reduced with tooth colored composite material compared metal material.
• Tooth colored composite restorations require much less removal of natural tooth structure than metal restorations, and dramatically smaller holes are needed with a composite.
• Tooth colored fillings are also healthier because no mercury is used to make them.

Learn More About Tooth-Colored Fillings

Recontouring

With recontouring, a small amount of tooth enamel is removed to reshape or resize a tooth. Recontouring is often necessary after children’s orthodontic braces have been removed or in the case of traumatic injury. Dr. Rohner uses a number of delicate instruments, such as a sanding disc for the surface of teeth and a small piece of sandpaper for in between teeth, to shape and smooth the tooth. Lastly, the tooth is polished for a natural-looking sheen.

Space Maintenance

Sometimes, space maintainers are necessary to hold children’s teeth in place. For example, if a primary tooth is lost prematurely, then a space maintainer will hold the adjacent teeth in place, so they don’t shift in to the open gap, which could lead to overcrowded or crooked permanent teeth. A plastic or metal space maintainer is custom-made to fit your child’s mouth, so it is comfortable. Most children quickly grow used to the appliance.