All posts by DoctorGentry

Cavities of the day

September 2, 2016cavities-before/after, cracked teetharlington, cavities, cavity, composite restorations, decay, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, virginiaDoctorGentry

This 30 year old patient drinks lemon water all day long. She also grinds her teeth. The grinding causes her teeth to crack and the acid from the lemon juice erodes the tooth causing demineralization of enamel allowing tooth decay.

decaybefore — before-deep decay spreading between her teeth

fillingsafter — after-cleaning out the decay and restoring the teeth with ceramic composite restorations

happypatient2 — happy (and still numb) patient after

Next, his 23 year old patient had a crack in his back upper molar. The tooth had a 10 year old amalgam restoration in it. The crack allowed decay to spread deep under the old amalgam filling. The tooth was not sensitive and the patient was unaware that he had a cavity. I removed the old filling and cleaned up the decay, placed a fluoride base to protect the pulp and restored the tooth with a beautiful ceramic composite.

Restoration of a fractured upper central incisor tooth

August 21, 2016chipped teeth-before/after, dental bonding-before/afterarlington, chipped tooth, composite restorations, dental bonding, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, smile, tooth bonding, virginiaDoctorGentry

This 14 year old patient chipped his front tooth on the metal restraint bar on a ride at Disney World. Today I repaired the tooth with a ceramic composite bonded restoration in 30 minutes.

A wonderful lady who I made happy today and a very rewarding and enjoyable case for me

August 20, 2016partial dentures-before/afterarlington, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, partial denture, partial dentures, Philip Gentry, valplast, valplast partial denture, virginiaDoctorGentry

I restored her smile with a Valplast upper partial denture. Nice case :-)))

valplastpartial — valplast partial denture

comparison of a cast metal partial and a Valplast partial denture

I enjoy explaining and educating my patients

August 20, 2016cavities-before/after, Uncategorizedarlington, caries, cavities, decay, dentist, digital dentistry, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, virginiaDoctorGentry

As Dean’s Faculty, Clinical Assistant Professor in The Advanced General Dentistry Department at The University of Maryland School of Dentistry, I am used to teaching and educating residents and senior dental students. I am always happy to answer questions and show patients exactly what I am doing and explain why.

x-ray — X-ray of the patient’s upper left teeth on the monitor

Showing the patient her cavity and explaining what I am doing

After photo demonstrating her tooth restored with a ceramic composite restoration

cavity1 — Showing this patient his cavity

cavity4 — restored with ceramic composite restoration

Porcelain crown cosmetic case of the day

August 17, 2016crownsarlington, crown, dentist, Dr Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, porcelain crowns, virginiaDoctorGentry

This patient bit down on a fork and fractured his upper left lateral incisor in half. We cleaned and polished his teeth, and I restored the tooth with a porcelain crown. He was very happy.

Monday morning dental implant case

August 15, 2016dental implantsarlington, dental implant, dental implants, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, virginiaDoctorGentry

This patient fractured his lower right first molar. We extracted the tooth and placed a 6mm wide 13 mm long Zimmer Biomet Encode titanium implant. This morning I delivered the beautiful porcelain implant crown.

implant encode abutment — healing abutment

dental implant parts — crown and gold screw

Dental implant case of the afternoon

August 13, 2016dental implantsarlington, dental implant, dental implants, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, virginiaDoctorGentry

This patient lives in Ft. Lauderdale and flew up today for me to restore his lower front teeth with dental implant crowns. This was a challenging case because of how thin the bone was and the tight space, and close proximity of the implants.

implant20 — x-ray of custom abutment try-in with gold screws

implant21 — close up view, notice internal hex

implant25 — crowns cemented over custom abutments

implant26 — looks so natural when he opens his mouth

digital design scans

Replacing a 20 year old crown

August 13, 2016crownsarlington, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, porcelain crowns, virginiaDoctorGentry

This patient wanted me to replace her 20 year old crown. She had gum recession exposing her root and recurrent decay that had spread under her old crown. The dark area showed when she smiled. I cut off the old crown, removed the decay and made her a beautiful new porcelain crown to cover the exposed root. Here’s the before and after photos.

Common conditions that can occur in the mouth, here’s 3 that I saw this week

August 13, 2016aphthous ulcer/canker sore, mandibular tori, maxillary tori, mucoceleaphthous ulcer, arlington, canker sore, dentist, dentistry, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, mandibular tori, maxillary tori, mucocele, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, virginiaDoctorGentry

These are 2 patients have swellings on the inner surface of the lower lip and cheek. The first is a 31 year old male, that has had it for 1 month. The second is a 27 year old female that has had it for 2 weeks. This is called a mucocele. It is caused when you bite or traumatize your lip and rupture or obstruct the small salivary gland duct. The saliva pools up and causes a small swelling. There are many small salivary glands on the inner surface of the lip and damaging the duct can cause the saliva to pool up causing a clear or bluish swelling. My treatment for this condition is to have the patient rinse with warm salt water 6 times a day for 1 week. If it is still present after 1 month have it surgically removed.

This next condition on this 55 year old female patient is called an aphthous ulcer, sometimes referred to as a canker sore. This is usually caused by stress, not eating or sleeping enough and getting run down. I see this a lot in college kids who are stressed during finals and not sleeping enough or eating well. It can also be caused by an allergic reaction. The aphthous ulcer usually resolves on it’s own in 2 weeks and can reoccur. It can sometimes be painful, and if it’s really bothering the patient, I can prescribe a Chlorohexidine mouthwash or steroid cream.

These next patients have mandibular tori, also called torus mandibularis. A torus (plural tori) is a bony growth that occurs in the lower or upper jaw in 20% of the population. Tori are normal bone covered by normal tissue. These are usually caused by genetic factors and teeth grinding causing excess bone to be deposited. No treatment is required.

maxillarytori — This one in the middle of the palate is called a maxillary tori

This last patient has both maxillary and mandibular tori:

dental implant of the day

August 8, 2016dental implantsarlington, dental, dental implant, dental implants, dentist, Dr Gentry, Dr. Philip Gentry, northern virginia, Philip Gentry, virginiaDoctorGentry

This patient’s upper left first molar tooth was fractured and very painful. We extracted her tooth and placed a Biomet Zimmer Encode Implant. Today I finished restoring her molar with a beautiful dental implant.