Enhanced Smiles with Bonding

Of all cosmetic and restorative procedures in dentistry, bonding is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to enhance your smile. Called bonding because tooth-colored resin is bonded to your teeth, the procedure is used to repair teeth that are discolored, unevenly shaped or chipped. At our office, we can even use bonding as an alternative to amalgam fillings if only a small filling is required.

Bonding is achieved by applying incredibly strong resin to the tooth in need of restoration. The procedure can usually be accomplished in one visit and allows you to keep most of your tooth’s original enamel, which makes bonding preferable to veneers in many cases. Once the right color resin has been chosen for your smile, Dr. Kathleen Hoye will slightly abrade your teeth to roughen the surface. Then a conditioning liquid is applied to help the resin adhere. The putty-like resin is then applied to your tooth and molded and smoothed until it is in the proper shape and then hardened with an LED light. After the bonding material has hardened, Dr. Hoye will trim and shape it even more and then polish it until it shines like a tooth. Altogether, the procedure usually takes between 30 minutes to an hour for one tooth.

If you’re unhappy with your teeth but unwilling to go as far as veneers, bonding can be used to improve your smile quickly and effectively. To schedule an appointment with Hoye Dental, call us at 508-823-1600 to reach our Taunton office and 781-444-4647 for our Needham office. For more information, visit www.HoyeDental.com.  

Intraoral Camera

Dental technology has greatly improved the diagnosis of dental issues over the years, making early treatment of decay, infection and disease possible. With advancements, such as intraoral cameras, dentists can view patients’ teeth easier and more accurately, which helps them diagnose dental issues earlier and treat them with less invasive methods. At Hoye Dental, our patients’ oral health is important to us, so we use intraoral cameras and other top-of-the-line technology to keep them smiling.

The intraoral camera is an effective tool for viewing patients’ teeth and mouths from different angles. This allows us to see the mouth from angles that were not available even a couple years ago. The camera connects to a monitor that lets us see the structures of the teeth more closely and with better accuracy than traditional methods. These digital images allow the patient and insurance companies to see what the doctor has seen, which lets you understand your oral health better and gain procedure acceptance from your insurance company more easily. In addition, by using digital intraoral cameras and digital X-rays, instead of traditional dental X-rays, your dentist can limit your exposure to radiation.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Kathleen Hoye and Hoye Dental, call 508-823-1600 for our Taunton office and 781-444-4647 for our Needham office. For more information about our services and technology, visitwww.HoyeDental.com.

Cold Sore Treatment with a Diode Laser

Cold sores can be painful, uncomfortable and embarrassing, but at Hoye Dental, we can help you get rid of the herpetic lesion with a diode laser. Treatment with a diode laser is quick and does not require an anesthetic, allowing you to easily treat cold sore symptoms.

If you are treated with a diode laser during the tingling stage that occurs before a breakout, you can reduce or even eliminate cold sore symptoms before they start. If you are already experiencing a breakout, the diode laser can still effectively treat your cold sore, offering pain relief and accelerated healing.

The diode laser treats cold sores by killing the viral particles of a cold sore, which not only helps heal a cold sore but can also decrease the frequency at which a cold sore reoccurs in that area. Several treatments can decrease the frequency of cold sores and lessen symptoms during the breakouts that do occur. We have had great results with the diode laser, with many patients and non-patients in Taunton and Needham, MA experiencing great relief.

If you would like to receive treatment, you can schedule an appointment with our Taunton office by calling 508-823-1600 or with our Needham office by calling 781-444-4647. For more information about the procedure or our practice, visit www.HoyeDental.com.

Why Do You Need a Root Canal Procedure?

While the thought of having a root canal procedure usually fills patients with dread, it is a necessary procedure for those who teeth become infected in the nerves. Besides causing pain, infections, if left untreated, can become abscesses, which are much more serious and result in a loss of bone mass in the jawbone. Here at Hoye Dental, Dr. Kathleen Hoye can relieve your pain with a root canal procedure.

Although root canals may not sound pleasant to you, they are well worth it to stop your pain and improve your oral health. While there is soreness after the procedure, it is only temporary and usually nothing that over-the-counter painkillers cannot take care of.

During a root canal, Dr. Hoye removes the infection by applying a local anesthetic to the area and drilling into the tooth to create an opening in the canal. Then she is able to remove the infected tissue and clean the area. Once the infection has been removed, your tooth will be filled with a sealant and then fitted with a crown to protect it from infection in the future. The crown also helps improve the appearance and strength of the tooth.

Once the procedure is complete, you will be able to eat without experiencing pain and sensitivity to heat, cold and pressure. If you’re in pain, you don’t need to suffer. Schedule an appointment us by calling 508-823-1600 for our Taunton office and 781-444-4647 for our Needham office. For more information, visit www.HoyeDental.com.

Providing Comfortable Dental Care

At Hoye Dental, we strive to provide our patients with high-quality dental care in a friendly and relaxing atmosphere. With top-of-the-line services and equipment, our offices in Needham and Taunton are both comfortable and well-equipped. By using digital X-rays, chair side TVs, BioLase soft tissue lasers and Xeomin, we can take dental care to the next level.

We use digital X-rays because they produce high-quality, accurate images of a patient’s tooth structures in real-time without exposing them to nearly as much radiation as traditional dental X-rays In addition, to less harmful diagnostic tools, during soft-tissue procedures, we choose to use BioLase, which can perform deep scaling, whitening, crown preparation and cold sore treatments that are quick and painless. Xeomin, which is similar to Botox, is used to help our patients fight the appearance of wrinkles in a safe way.

To increase our patients’ comfort during dental procedures, we have chair side TVs so that you may watch TV during your appointment. The TVs are equipped with 20” LCD monitors that are mounted by your chair for convenient viewing.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Kathleen Hoye, call 508-823-1600 for the Taunton office and 781-444-4647 for the Needham office. To find out more about our practices and services, visit www.HoyeDental.com.

Soft Tissue Lasers

Dental lasers have improved the way that dentists perform a variety of procedures, including the treatment of periodontal issues. From pocket reductions to frenectomies to crown lengthening, it is now possible for patients to have their gums restored while forgoing incisions, stitches and the discomfort of traditional gum surgery. This is why we use soft tissue lasers at Hoye Dental.

With increased accuracy and effectiveness and decreased negative side effects, soft tissue lasers offer many benefits to both dentists and patients. Using the energy of various wavelengths of light to cut and vaporize tissue, procedures that use soft tissue lasers may not require stitches or anesthesia. The laser also minimizes bleeding, bacterial infections and damage to surrounding tissue. In addition, wounds can heal much faster.

Dr. Kathleen Hoye often uses soft tissue laser therapy for pocket reduction, which is the treatment of gum disease. The laser is used to reduce the bacterial levels in the pockets of your gums. By killing bacteria and reducing pocket depth, this therapy helps restore healthy periodontal structures around your teeth.

Soft tissue lasers can also be used for cold sores. They can reduce pain and minimize your healing time. With the pain management attachment, the laser can also help relax TMJ disorders and reduce inflammation.

To schedule an appointment in Taunton, MA, call 508-823-1600. Call 781-444-4647 for the Needham, MA office. For more information, visitwww.HoyeDental.com.

How Clean are Your Teeth?

Regular checkups and dental cleanings are a part of any good oral hygiene routine, and at Hoye Dental we provide dental care services of the highest quality to ensure that our patients’ smiles stay healthy year after year.

Dental cleanings involve the removal of plaque, which is a soft and sticky film of bacteria, and deposits of tartar that have built up on the teeth over time despite regular brushing and flossing. Because teeth are constantly bathed in saliva, which contains calcium and other substances to strengthen and protect teeth, tartar or calcium deposits can build up over time, and it can only be removed with the help of a dentist. If this tartar is not removed and allowed to accumulate, bacteria will be provided a perfect environment and thrive on the gums and teeth, which can cause cavities, infection and gum disease.

At-home brushing and cleaning are not enough to make sure teeth stay clean. Regular dental cleanings are required. We will clean and polish your teeth, leaving the surface clean and smooth. The smoother the teeth, the more difficult it is for bacteria to stick to them and the more effective at-home brushing will be.

We recommend checkups and dental cleanings every six months for optimum oral health. To schedule an appointment, call 508-823-1600 for our Taunton, MA office and 781-444-4647 for our Needham, MA office. For more information, visit www.HoyeDental.com.