How can we help you?
Your questions are always welcome at Gill Dental. We want you to be fully informed and comfortable with decisions you make about your family's dental care. Our team has many years of experience and can answer any oral health care questions you have. No question is too big or too small – if it's a concern for you, it's a concern for us, too.
We've chosen a few questions we hear frequently and shared them below. However, you probably have some of your own, so please contact us if you don't see your question answered here.
Other
Insurance and financing of dental costs is a concern for everyone these days. At Gill Dental, we do everything we can to make your dental care affordable and accessible.
Currently, we’re in-network with Delta Dental PPO, and we also accept several other PPO insurance plans. These include:
Aetna
Assurant
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Cigna
Delta Dental
Erisa
GEHA
Humana
Met Life
Principal Financial Group
We also accept CareCredit for payment, a financing plan that is endorsed by the American Dental Association (ADA). This is an exceptional way to get the care you need when you need it. Additionally, many patients are able to use flex (health savings) accounts to pay for their dental work.
Dental insurance is not a requirement at Gill Dental, and we are happy to accept you as a patient whether or not you’re insured.
Dental Exams & Cleanings
There’s a long list of causes for bad breath, but what can you do to get rid of it? There may be a medical or dental reason for your bad breath, but in many cases, you can eliminate bad breath with some easy lifestyle changes.
Don't...
Don’t smoke: While there are a multitude of reasons to quit the bad habit of smoking, one of the more obvious ones is the strong odor it leaves on your breath.
Don’t eat foods with strong odors: Avoid onions and garlic, especially before or during an important business meeting or other event where you need to interact with others. Onions and garlic leave a strong odor because they contain elements that make their way into your bloodstream and travel to your lungs, until you finally breathe them out.
Do...
Brush and floss thoroughly: Conscientious oral hygiene is necessary for your oral health to avoid cavities and gum disease. However, it also dislodges food particles that would be otherwise stuck between your teeth trapping bacteria, causing a distinctive odor. If you wear dentures, make sure they’re cleaned thoroughly every day.
Visit the dentist frequently: In combination with at-home oral hygiene, visiting the dentist for regular exams and cleanings is the easiest way to banish bad breath and make sure your mouth is as healthy as it can be.
Use mouthwash: In many cases, all you need is a quick rinse with mouthwash to eliminate odors.
Please call Gill Dental to learn more about the reasons for bad breath and what you can do to get rid of it
Bad breath (halitosis) can be an unpleasant and embarrassing condition. Most of us suffer from bad breath from time to time, usually as a result of eating foods with very strong odors. But chronic bad breath doesn't just make you feel self-conscious. It may be a sign that a more serious problem exists.
Here’s a list of some of the most common causes of bad breath:
Oral Health Problems :
- Microbial deposits on the tongue
- Poor oral hygiene
- Presence of periodontal (gum) disease
- Untreated tooth decay
Lifestyle Choices:
- Use of tobacco products
- Dieting
- Skipping meals
Medical Conditions:
- Enlarged tonsils or tonsil stones
- Diabetes, sinus conditions, bronchitis
If your bad breath is causing you to avoid social interactions and making you feel self-conscious, please contact our Williams office first to determine if it’s related to a dental problem. At that time, we’ll also talk about your oral hygiene and any other changes you can make to eliminate chronic bad breath.
Visual exams and dental x-rays work together to give us a detailed, overall view of the condition of your teeth. Our state-of-the-art digital x-rays are used to take precise images of the inside of your tooth, in between teeth, and below the gum line.
Digital x-rays don’t just let us see a detailed image of the inside of your teeth; using digital x-rays reduces your exposure by as much as 90% compared to traditional analog film-based x-rays.
These images are then used to check for small cavities and other hard-tissue abnormalities. At Gill Dental, we are very conservative with the number of x-rays we take, and every patient is prescribed x-rays based on their own individual needs. We normally suggest that check-up x-rays be taken every 12–24 months. After Dr. Gill has evaluated the condition of your oral health, we’ll establish a schedule for x-rays that is personalized for your needs.
Dental x-rays are one of the most important diagnostic tools we use at Gill Dental, and we take every possible step to ensure your safety during the process. We would love to hear from you so we can get started on a treatment plan based on a clear understanding of your own individual needs.
Emergency Treatment
Absolutely, we leave room in our schedule for same day dental emergencies. Give our office a call at (530) 473-2882.
Fillings
Silver fillings, also known as amalgam fillings, are a blend of silver, copper, and zinc, mixed with elemental mercury. Dentists have used amalgam fillings to fill teeth since the early 1800s with great success.
At Gill Dental, we do everything possible to ensure that your treatments are not just effective, but safe. Recently there has been a lot of press about the safety of amalgam fillings and the effect they may have on your overall health.
The controversy regarding these fillings comes from claims that the exposure to mercury vapor and particles from fillings can lead to general health problems. However, multiple studies have found that there’s no relationship between amalgam fillings and any adverse health conditions. In fact, The American Dental Association (ADA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and others support the use of silver fillings as a safe and cost effective choice for restoring a damaged tooth.
Amalgam fillings are extremely durable, so they’re primarily used on molars that have to withstand a lot of biting force. Because of the esthetic impact of amalgam fillings, we don’t normally place amalgam fillings on the teeth that show when you smile.
If you want your teeth to be as healthy as they can be, you should floss at least once a day to remove plaque from the surface and in between your teeth. Obviously brushing is important, but it works hand-in-hand with flossing.
This is because your toothbrush cannot get into all those hard-to-reach areas between teeth. Flossing is necessary because it cleans all the nooks and crannies that you can’t reach with a toothbrush. If plaque is not removed from these areas, it will harden and form calculus/tartar, which contributes to gum disease. Also, the food debris in plaque gets eaten by bacteria, which causes acid to be produced, which in turn causes cavities in your teeth.
It’s also essential to visit a dental hygienist twice a year (more often if indicated) for professional cleanings. Think of these visits as a tune-up – you maintain your oral hygiene at home, and every six months we’ll give you a fresh start with a thorough dental cleaning.
If it’s been a while since you’ve had a dental cleaning, please call Gill Dental to arrange an appointment. As part of your cleaning, we will also instruct you about the most effective ways to brush and floss.