Long Beach, CA AND TORRANCE, CA Smile Repair

The Cherry Dental and PCH Dental team works in partnership with patients to help prevent the majority of oral health conditions and diagnose and treat others in their earliest stages. However, despite our best efforts, many patients still need restorative care for decayed or damaged teeth or other oral health issues. That’s where restorative dentistry services come in. Dr. Maha H. Hanna and Dr. Amanda A. Hanna have decades of education, training, and experience between them, and this mother daughter dentistry team proudly offers a wide array of high quality smile repair services. Contact us to find out more or schedule an appointment.

Traditional Crown & Bridge

Dental crowns are restorations created to fit completely over the top of your damaged or decayed tooth. We are able to create dental crowns that effectively repair teeth using a variety of materials. Gold is the traditional standard for dental crowns. This durable metal offers long lasting results with minimal wear against opposing teeth. Unfortunately, gold crowns have a noticeable appearance within smile lines, and patients who experience metal allergies may not be able to receive gold crowns. Porcelain bonded to metal restorations offer a more cosmetic solution. However, the porcelain layer wears away overtime revealing the darker metal below, and they are not ideal for patients with metal allergies. All-ceramic crowns offer a durable, cosmetic solution. Even after wear, all-ceramic crowns retain a natural appearance and are the best material for patients with metal allergies or sensitivities. We can use dental crowns to repair damaged smiles in a number of situations including:

• Damage, decay, or cosmetic flaws that are too extensive to be corrected with less invasive options
• A row of dental crowns can be fused together to create a fixed bridge that attaches to healthy teeth to replace one to three consecutive missing teeth
• A dental crown or fixed bridge can also be attached to dental implant posts to replace missing teeth

Tooth Colored Fillings

Traditionally, we filled damaged teeth using amalgam metal fillings. However, these materials noticeably marred patients’ smiles, and required the removal of healthy dental structure to support the filling. Instead, we use composite resin filling materials to offer a more cosmetic and conservative repair option. Composite resin can be matched to your natural dental structure, and it’s applied in a malleable, putty-like form directly to your damaged tooth. There’s no need to remove healthy dental structure to support the filling. Instead, the resin fills in crevices and creates a tight seal with the tooth. Once in position, we use a curing light to harden the filling in place.

Dentures & Partials

For patients with tooth loss too extensive to be repaired with dental crowns or fixed bridges, we may recommend a partial or full denture. Partial dentures can be crafted to fill any number of gaps between teeth, and full dentures are created to replace a row of lost teeth. Both partial and full dentures are created by attaching replacement teeth to a gum colored base. The partial is shaped to fit snugly between remaining teeth and are held in place by metal clasps. Full dentures are shaped to fit against the gum line and create suction that holds the denture in place. We can also offer dental implant supported partial and full dentures.

Root Canals

If you experience a severe toothache, sensitivity to changes in temperature, or notice discoloration of a single tooth, you may be in need of a root canal. This procedure is necessary when damage or decay affects the innermost layer of the tooth, the pulp, where the tooth’s nerve is housed. The result is an irritated nerve that causes pain and sensitivity. Root canal therapy allows us to remove the damaged pulp layer of the tooth and replaces it with a similar substance to relieve pain and restore oral health.

Extractions

We will always work hard to repair damaged dental structures rather than removing teeth. However, there are some occasions when extraction is the best solution to ensure your continued oral health. We may recommend extraction in the following instances:

• Severe decay that may spread to surrounding teeth or that has destroyed more than half of the tooth
• Damage or decay that may cause damage to opposing teeth due to wear
• In preparation for orthodontic treatment for crowded smiles or prior to creating and placing dentures
• Wisdom teeth, third molars, are the most often extracted teeth as they erupt last and there is often inadequate space for them within patients’ smiles