Invisalign

At Prairie Hawk Dental, we offer Invisalign aligners so that you can straighten your teeth without a mouth full of metal. Using a series of clear plastic aligners, our doctors will guide your teeth into a smile you will be proud of.

While regular braces are still best for more serious cases of teeth straightening, Invisalign is great for cases of mild to moderate spacing or crowding. For these cases, Invisalign provides teeth correction that bypasses the discomfort, soreness and restrictive diet that those who have traditional braces must face.

With a computer program that generates a series of aligners with small changes in each, Invisalign will allow you to straighten your teeth without anyone even knowing. Virtually invisible, the aligners are made of thin, comfortable plastic, and unlike traditional braces, they are removable. Therefore, your teeth will not experience the same discoloration and plaque buildup that can normally occur with metal brackets and wire. In addition, you will be able to eat all the foods you like, such as popcorn, chips, pretzels, nuts, apples, carrots and corn.

If you think Invisalign might be the best option for you to achieve the smile you’ve been dreaming of, call us at 720-515-1801 to schedule an appointment with Dr. Aaron Goodman. For more information, visitwww.PrairieHawkDental.com.

Gum Disease

Caring for your teeth is an essential part of maintaining good oral health, but your gums also play an important role in your health, and proper care is crucial. Gum disease can be a serious detriment to your oral health and overall wellness, and Dr. Aaron Goodman provides the type of regular periodontal care and checkups you need to maintain peak health and prevent gum disease.

With periodontal disease responsible for 75 percent of all adult tooth loss cases in the United States, it is critical to check for and treat periodontal issues when they first arise. Periodontal disease is an infection of the gums that starts when a build-up of plaque on your teeth hardens surrounding gums. In its early stages, this gum disease is gingivitis, but if it is left untreated, it becomes periodontis. Periodontis can destroy your gums tissue and lead to tooth loss. Periodontis can even result in a loss of bone mass in your jawbone, and heart disease, diabetes and stroke have also been linked to poor periodontal health.

The state of your gums affects the health of your entire body, so come to Prairie Hawk Dental for periodontal cleanings and treatment. We will make sure your gums are well cared for. Call 720-515-1801. For more information, visit www.PrairieHawkDental.com.

Oral Cancer Screenings

Being screened for oral cancer is an important part of maintaining your oral health and should be a regular part of your oral hygiene routine. At our practice in Castle Rock, CO, we take oral cancer seriously and are dedicated to keeping our patients safe with thorough screenings.

While everyone is at risk for oral cancer, certain factors can increase your risk in developing the disease. Lifestyle choices, such as heavy drinking or smoking, can greatly affect the health of tissues in the mouth, so it is especially important for you to receive regular screenings if you partake in these activities. If oral abnormalities are caught early, it will not only expand your treatment options, including less invasive and less radical treatments, but it will also increase your chances of beating oral cancer.

Screening for oral cancer can be done during routine checkups by Dr. Aaron Goodman, who uses ultraviolet light to help him spot abnormal tissue in your mouth. Abnormal tissue can then be tested to see if it is cancerous or not.

Oral cancer is a serious issue, and at Prairie Hawk Dental, we strive to protect all our patients. To schedule an appointment, call 720-515-1801. For more information, visit www.PrairieHawkDental.com.

Mouth guards

If you play contact sports, mouth guards are a necessary piece of equipment. From football, soccer and basketball to hockey, lacrosse, wrestling and even baseball, if you play a sport where contact is possible, you should wear a mouth guard to protect your teeth. Here at Prairie Hawk Dental, Dr. Aaron Goodman can provide you with a custom mouth guard to protect your jaw, cheeks, teeth, tongue and lips.

 

Mouth guards are essential for protecting your teeth and jaw against structural damage and your tongue and lips against lacerations. They have also been known to decrease the risk of concussions during sports.

 

While you can buy mouth guards in most sporting goods stores, you should be wary of these. They can be ill-fitting and uncomfortable and unlikely to offer you the best level of protection. If you want to protect your mouth during sports, a custom mouth guard from Dr. Goodman offers the highest level of protection. Created specifically for you the mouth guard is made with a thin plastic that is hardened after being custom fit to your mouth. Its thinness allows you to breathe easier, which is important when playing team sports.

 

To ensure that you perform at your best and are protected on the field, rink or court, schedule an appointment at our office in Castle Rock, CO by calling 720-515-1801. For more information, visit www.PrairieHawkDental.com. 

Inlays and Onlays

Inlays and onlays are two procedures that use the tooth structure as a base for restoration. Often called partial crowns, both inlays and onlays strengthen the tooth while restoring its shape and working to prevent further damage. At Prairie Hawk Dental, we use these procedures to repair teeth when decay is too extensive to support a filling but not bad enough to use a crown.

 

When there is no damage to the cusps of a tooth, Dr. Aaron Goodman uses an inlay, bonding it right on top of the tooth. Made of porcelain, inlays are both strong and natural-looking, providing an attractive solution to repairing your tooth. Onlays are used when damage is a little more extensive and are used to repair part of the cusp of the tooth.

 

Inlays and onlays can be created with a CEREC machine, which creates crowns, inlays, onlays and veneers right in the office. Because the machine uses compressed porcelain, inlays and onlays are even stronger than those that come from a laboratory.

 

To ensure that your teeth get the best care with up-to-date technology, schedule an appointment with our office in Castle Rock, CO by calling 720-515-1801. For more information, visit www.PrairieHawkDental.com. 

Sealants

Although brushing and flossing is effective at removing food particles and plaque from the smooth surfaces of our teeth, sometimes these methods are ineffective at thoroughly cleaning the nooks and crannies in our premolars and molars. Because molars are the hardest to clean and the ones most used in the chewing process, they are the teeth most susceptible to cavities and decay, which is why at Prairie Hawk Dental we recommend sealants soon after molars emerge, when children are between the ages of 6 and 14.

 

Dental sealants are a thin, plastic coating applied to the chewing surfaces of molars to prevent cavities and tooth decay. The sealant is applied by the dentist, who first roughens the surface of the molar with acid and then paints on the sealant, which bonds into the depressions and grooves of the teeth, hardening and forming a shield over the enamel to protect it for approximately 10 years.

While normally applied to children’s molars, whose teeth are especially susceptible to cavities, Dr. Aaron Goodman will also sometimes apply sealants on adult molars if they have hard-to-clean grooves that are causing cavities.

 

To schedule an appointment, call our office in Castle Rock, CO at 720-515-1801. For more information, you can also visit www.PHawkDental.com. 

Bridges

If you have had a tooth extracted due to damage, decay or disease, it is important to have the resulting gap filled or your remaining teeth can shift out of position. When this happens, your teeth become more susceptible to disease and decay. At Prairie Hawk Dental, we can help keep your smile beautiful and functional with dental bridges.

 

Called a bridge because it literally creates a bridge to cross the area where your tooth is missing, this prosthetic tooth replacement is usually made from gold, metal, alloys or porcelain to ensure a strong and durable smile that can last more than a decade if properly cared for.

 

The process of creating a bridge takes two visits to our office. In the first, Dr. Aaron Goodman will create abutments out of the existing teeth on both sides of your missing tooth. This is where the bridge will be attached. After the abutments are in place, a mold is made of your mouth for creating the bridge, which will fit and feel as close to your natural teeth as possible. The bridge will consist of two crowns, which will be fixed to the abutments, and a pontic, which is the prosthetic that will replace your missing tooth. We provide you with a temporary bridge while your permanent one is crafted in the lab. On the second visit, the permanent bridge will then be fixed to the abutments with an adhesive.

 

For more information, call our office in Castle Rock, CO by calling 720-515-1801. You can also visit www.PHawkDental.com.