Dr. Bloom provides general dentistry services as well as a variety of cosmetic dentistry procedures.  He and his staff aim to provide our patients with a pain-free experience in a comfortable setting.  His team works hard to ensure that your visit is as pleasant as possible.  He uses digital xrays to reduce your exposure to radiation.  He will review your xrays with you to ensure that you see and understand any and all diagnoses and suggestions for treatment.  During your time in the dental chair, you can watch any of our videotapes or dvds, or you can bring your own.

Dr. Bloom performs most of the dentistry his patients need and this is a brief overview of services he routinely provides: 

BONDING:

Bonding is the process of attaching/gluing/adhering composite resins and/or porcelain to teeth.  The Bonding Process is used for tooth colored fillings, cosmetic makeovers, bonded bridgework, orthodontic brackets, and even sealing root canals.  Most bonding procedures utilize a bright light (with a blue filter) to harden the resins.  Modern bonding procedures have replaced several of the dental procedures that involved metals in the past, most notable of which is silver amalgam fillings.  Dr. Bloom does not place amalgam fillings.

   Current composite resins are very durable and will keep their color and shape for many years.  Bonding resins are used to restore tooth structure after decay removal or breakage.  In Cosmetic Bonding,  resins can be used to enlarge small teeth, repair chipped teeth, and provide an illusion of alignment to crooked teeth.

   Porcelain bonded to teeth for the same cosmetic purposes will prove to be more durable and keep its color longer than composite resin... thus, porcelain laminate veneers, porcelain onlays and ceramic/porcelain crowns are better in the long run than the same restoration made of composite resin.

CROWNS and ONLAYS:

Crowns and Onlays are tooth restorations required when teeth are weakened by decay,  fracture or root canal treatment.  They are the suggested restorations when teeth are no longer strong enough to function without fear of fracture.   As a preventive measure, Dr. Bloom uses crowns and onlays to prevent cusps from breaking off, or after the fact, as a means to restore a tooth whose cusp has already fractured or broken completely off.  There are many risks to waiting for for breakage, so when Dr. Bloom sees extremely weakened cusps he suggests protection for prevention.

A crown surrounds the remainder of the tooth, usually covering it to the gum line.  An onlay covers the cusps and often ends far short of the gum line, leaving more enamel.

   Since the main point of a crown or onlay is to give strength to a tooth that needs it, they are most often made of metal (especially gold alloy) or at least have an inner "thimble" of metal that is covered with tooth colored porcelain.  These porcelain-fused to metal crowns were the standard esthetic crowns of the last half of the 1900's.   When appearance is the highest priority, then hard, space-age ceramics are used as the "thimble" instead of metal.

Invisible Orthodontics

There are several ways to move teeth without the use of brackets and wires on the outer surfaces of the teeth.  One method attaches brackets and wires on the inside.  Another method uses clear plastic shells that fit over the teeth.  These techniques are useful for adults, especially in cases addressing minor to moderate esthetic issues of the front teeth.