Porcelain veneers have a wide range of uses from concealing dental discoloration to decreasing sensitivity after gum tissue recession, porcelain veneers don’t only deliver smiles that look great, they also promote improved oral health. Before we answer the question about whether or not porcelain veneers can give you straight teeth, it’s important to understand just what they are. Porcelain veneers are thin pieces of tooth-colored material that are fitted over the front facing parts of teeth to create a flawless smile with minimal impact to healthy tooth structures. Once in place, porcelain veneers improve the appearance of numerous cosmetic smile flaws, including correcting minor orthodontic concerns.

Most people have one or more things they want to change about their smiles, but they worry that cosmetic dentistry will be complicated, painful, or look unnatural. Porcelain veneers offer a simple cosmetic dentistry option that can be completed in just a few visits to our dental office, the treatment is comfortable and conservative, and the results are gorgeous. Many people who choose porcelain veneers say they never thought such an easy procedure could completely transform their appearance. In this blog, we’ll walk through the quick and conservative porcelain veneer treatment process.

Many people think of periodontal (gum) disease as simply being an infection or inflammation in the soft tissue, but actually, this complex condition can negatively impact a patient’s entire smile, leading to serious repercussions for a person’s oral health and overall wellness. While gum disease can be effectively treated in the early stages, advanced periodontal disease, often called periodontitis, can’t be reversed. Keep reading to learn more about what you may experience in the various stages of gum disease. It’s always important to let your dentist know as soon as possible if you notice any changes in your oral health.

Stopping oral health concerns before they begin is essential year round, but during Thanksgiving and the holiday season, it’s especially important to show your smile a little appreciation by taking extra preventive dentistry steps. Keep reading to the learn the top five tips from our dentists to keep your smile healthy at Thanksgiving, through the holiday season, and year round.

Every October, we celebrate a really important holiday – National Dental Hygiene Month! It’s a big deal at McCarl Dental Group, but for a lot of other families, another holiday overshadows this annual awareness month dedicated to oral health – Halloween. Kids go trick or treating and get bag loads of candy. It’s fun and candy is delicious, but it’s not great for oral and overall health. In this blog, you can learn more about the candies that are best and worst for teeth and how to help kids make good candy choices this Halloween. Don’t forget to bring kids to see us at McCarl dental Group to preserve their healthy smiles with regular children’s dentistry visits.

Maintaining your health is a top priority during this pandemic. Keep reading to learn more about why visiting the dentist for preventive and restorative dentistry during the pandemic is still important. Delaying or avoiding a small dental concern may lead to a more significant dental problem. You can also learn more about the efforts of the McCarl Dental Group to make your visit to the dentist safe and comfortable.

The McCarl Dental Group team is happy to be welcoming the majority of our dentistry patients back to the office for regular, preventive dentistry visits, but we’re still encouraging those patients who are considered higher risk to postpone non-essential dental office trips for the time being. This includes delaying “fun visits” for kids. In this blog, we’ll talk about why it’s important to postpone these appointments for young patients and how you can care for your child’s smile until fun visits are available again.

The McCarl Dental Group team is serious about the safety measures our dental offices are implementing during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. We appreciate and value our loyal patients and want to share some updates about new procedures. This is especially important now that non-emergency patients are returning to the dental office. Although we are seeing fewer patients than pre-COVID, we’re having more patients return for dental care than during the last few months. We’re taking even more precautions to keep our dental patients, our employees, and the Greenbelt community safe. You can learn more about the updates to our protocols by watching our video from Dr. Richard Duarte and reading this blog.

We are all hearing a lot of conflicting information about what does and doesn’t help to keep us safe while we’re navigating the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. When it comes to visiting the dental office, pre-rinses have come under some scrutiny. You can find almost as many seemingly reputable sources supporting and opposing the use of pre-rinses. At McCarl Dental Group in Greenbelt, we’ve always included a pre-rinse as part of our preventive dental exam routine, and we haven’t stopped doing this in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, we changed to a pre-rinse product that exceeds the recommendations of the American Dental Association (ADA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this blog, you can learn more about the oral rinse we’re using, but don’t hesitate to call to chat with one of our team members if you have questions.