Summerbrook Dental Group Aurora CO

04/04/2022

Finished product of an All-On-4 ( implant dentures)

02/15/2022

Do I REALLY need to replace a missing tooth?

Many patients who are missing teeth contemplate the idea of just letting the space exist and not replacing the missing tooth. While this is certainly one option, it carries ramifications into the future that may not always be readily apparent. When there is a missing tooth that does not get replaced, 3 detrimental things happen:
1) The remaining teeth have to do extra work. Our bodies have 16 functioning chewing teeth (not counting wisdom teeth). If you have one of these teeth pulled then not only do you lose the chewing power of that tooth, but you also lose the chewing power of the tooth opposing it. Imagine you have a team of 16 people at work and 2 of them quit. The boss doesn’t replace those 2 people, so the remaining 14 people are expected to do the work of 16 people. What would happen to a team like that? The remaining 14 people would be overworked and would wear out quickly. The same thing happens to your teeth! They are overworked and they wear out much more quickly.
Worn Teeth

2) Teeth are designed to keep each other upright. When a tooth is lost and not replaced, the teeth surrounding that one start to tip and fall into the missing space. This causes teeth to be angled in such a way that the chewing forces are not acting in the long axis of the tooth. This causes the tooth to become loose and is very unhealthy.


3) The jaw bone dissolves. Tooth roots are designed to transmit chewing forces into the bone. This keeps the bone healthy and strong. When a tooth is lost, the bone underneath the tooth no longer has that stimulation and it begins to atrophy and dissolve. This can cause jaw bone weakness into the future, which can result in a higher likelihood of jaw fracture. This is compounded as patients age and bone density naturally falls.
Atrophy of the Jaw | Bone Loss from Tooth Loss

So, is it important to replace a missing tooth? Maybe it won’t affect your life this year if you leave an open space. Maybe it won’t even affect your life during the next 5 years! But eventually, the above conditions will catch up to you and fixing the problem becomes much, much more expensive, more time consuming and more uncomfortable. It’s never going to be more affordable, more comfortable or faster to fix a problem than it is right now.

02/07/2022

We love to hear when patients are happy with our service.

02/03/2022

Check this out... Dr. Craig worked his magic using our in house crown machine giving this patient a beautiful smile transformation. At SummerBrook we offer same day crowns.

01/31/2022

Jayden and I at Disneyland Last October👩‍👦
Thank you Summerbrook (Ang & Dr. Craig) for the fantastic and amazing experience💙

01/24/2022

Sometimes smiles take some work. This patient has Ortho to open up his bite and permanent restorations to go.
It’s amazing what can be done by our doctors.❤️

01/21/2022

Great Teamwork with Marlo, Andrea and Lena

01/14/2022

Remember this day?!?! So fun to have Dr.Craig walking around the office as the tooth fairy tutu and all. Lol!

01/06/2022

A little humor for your snowy day.😂

01/04/2022

Candice, Kaelin and Kim Hanging Out during Christmas Break ❤️

01/02/2022

12/27/2021

“My parents were in town so of course being German we explored the German Christmas market.” Lena