Family Dentistry Sioux City, IA
At Dr. Kava’s Sioux City Dental, We Treat You Like Family
Earning Trust – One Patient at a Time
Our first goal, from the moment you walk in the door, is to earn a feeling of trust. We believe the absolute best family dentistry we can provide will only take place when there is a strong bond of trust with our patients, and we’re all working together toward the common goals of healthy teeth and gums and a beautiful smile.
Dentistry for Adults
Whether your dental needs are a complete exam, cleaning, or anything in between, our staff will provide you with exceptional care in adult dentistry. Your six-month visits keep your teeth clean and healthy and help prevent problems down the road by letting us spot them early. We can address your unique concerns and develop a relationship that ensures continuity of care. We look forward to meeting you in Sioux City, IA office!
Dentistry for Children
We strive to make children of all ages feel at ease and enjoy themselves, so bring the whole family along! You can rest assured your child will receive the latest advancements in children’s dentistry, delivered with caring, thoughtfulness, and compassion. Our pediatric dentist enjoys meeting them when they are in preschool and continue helping them year after year as they grow and change.
A Healthy Smile, A Healthy Body
Did you know that the cause of most tooth loss is not decay? It’s gum disease. And recent studies have established a link between gum disease and your overall health. The good news is that gum disease treatment can be made successfully, often without surgery. Our commitment to you includes paying meticulous attention to all of your needs for healthy teeth and gums so you not only look your best but also have optimum overall health.
Cosmetic Dentistry
Crooked teeth, worn teeth, dental fillings, gaps, chips, cracks, and discolorations – you name it, our cosmetic dentist can fix it! It’s no secret that our smiles have a huge effect on how others see us and how we feel about ourselves. Many patients tell us that they would love to fix their teeth, but they assume it will take something extreme to make it possible. They are thrilled to find out there are many conservative options for improvement. Ask us about dental veneers, bonding, crowns, and more cosmetic dentistry options. Our cosmetic dentist also offers both in-office and take-home teeth whitening.
The Isolite™ Dental Isolation System
This multi-function unit’s most important feature is suction that removes droplets and aerosols from the air during treatment. Additionally, its flexible mouthpiece provides an increased level of dental isolation and includes a light for improved illumination of the inside of your mouth. For comfort, there is a built-in bite block to assist you in keeping your mouth open. Isolite was designed to make your treatment quicker and easier, not only eliminating multiple hand instruments previously used by dentists and dental assistants but also shortening your time in the chair and in our office.
Faster, More Comfortable Root Canals with the WaveOne™ System
Extraction of an extensively damaged tooth isn’t always necessary! Dr. Kava has successfully saved and restored teeth to full functionality with root canals for many of our patients. The root canal treatment can be done faster, more efficiently, and with even better results thanks to our WaveOne System. These high-tech instruments for performing root canals allow Dr. Kava to be even more proficient, and the rotary style makes them more comfortable for you, too.
Dentistry Without Drills or Needles?
Is it possible to go to the dentist and never feel the drill or the pinch of that dreaded needle? One of the most spectacular advances in recent dentistry is called air abrasion. Instead of a conventional drill, this device aims a stream of tiny particles and air at the area of decay and gently mists it away! Many patients require little or no anesthesia at all. The sound and vibrations of the drill are gone – and so is most of the pain! For many procedures, it’s goodbye needles, goodbye drill!
Oral Cancer – Minimize Your Risk
It’s an often unknown statistic that oral cancer causes one American death every hour. For 40 years, this mortality rate hasn’t changed. But it’s not all bad news. Early detection means a 90% cure rate for oral cancer. That’s why we conduct a visual screening for oral cancer at every six-month checkup and cleaning. If the hygienist or doctor sees anything that gives them cause for concern, they’ll refer you to an oral surgeon. This screening could literally save your life!
CEREC™ – One-Visit Crowns
Dental crowns and bridges are commonly used prosthetic restorations for damaged or missing teeth that can restore the structure and function of your smile. Previously, the process for developing crowns and bridges involved creating an impression of a patient’s bite using an unpleasant and uncomfortable goopy material. This process is not only uncomfortable, it increases risk of infection, and the restorations can take up to two weeks to make, meaning patients have to return for several visits.
Keeping with his commitment to improve his patients’ overall experience and outcomes, Dr. Kava has invested in CEREC technology. He can now complete your restorative crowns in a single visit, with every step of the process performed in-office. Instead of the goopy impression, he will take an accurate digital 3-D impression using an intra-oral scanner. He will then design your crown digitally, and the CEREC milling machine will take care of the rest in just a few minutes! Once your custom-fit crown is milled, Dr. Kava will bond your beautiful new crown to your teeth.
What are some of the reasons Dr. Kava will recommend a dental crown?
· Large, broken-down filling
· Large area of tooth decay
· Cracked or broken tooth
· Significant tooth discoloration
· Improper tooth shape or size
CEREC Crowns will not only improve the appearance of your teeth, but also restore your natural structure and function so you can feel confident and comfortable with your smile.
TMJ/TMD Treatment
Dental occlusion (i.e. your bite) is sometimes the cause of frequent headaches, aching or popping jaws, shoulder pain, and neck pain. If your teeth have been ground down over the years or lost due to accident or dental disease, your jaw is not able to settle into a naturally relaxed position. This causes tension in the muscles in the jaw, and can lead to a variety of pain that you may have already grown accustomed to living with. The dentist can restore your dental occlusion so the jaw can be returned to the position that nature intended.
Do You Find Yourself Falling Asleep on the Job?
If you or a loved one find yourself falling asleep during the day, or snoring loudly or having interrupted breathing during sleep, it may be sleep apnea. For those who have been diagnosed with this condition, modern dentistry has new sleep apnea treatment options such as oral appliances. These have been successful for over 90% of the patients who use them and are an alternative to CPAP machines. Ask us about this treatment and start getting the rest you deserve.
Protect Your Teeth During Sports
Did you know that 5 million teeth are knocked out each year in the United States alone? Many sports can be dangerous without the proper protection. The one-size-fits-all mouthguards found in stores just don’t fit very well. Custom-made sports mouthguards fit well, protect well, and can be worn for any sport.
Beautiful Dentures for Confident Smiles
If you’re looking for affordable dentures in Sioux City, IA, for missing teeth, Dr. Kava can design and fit beautiful-looking dentures that don’t slip! He is skilled at fitting the denture so well that you don’t have to worry about the foods you’re eating or that your dentures might shift when you talk.
In-House Tooth Extractions
If a tooth is extensively damaged or infected, or if third molars are impacted, tooth extraction is the solution to the problem. We do most tooth extractions in our office, so you will not be inconvenienced with a referral to another office. Our compassionate manner will make you feel comfortable in our care for this treatment.
Straight Teeth with Clear Aligners
With SureSmile™ our orthodontist in Sioux City, IA, can provide you with the opportunity to have straight teeth in as little as 9 – 15 months! No braces, wires, or headgear! And the best part is that no one will know you’re straightening your teeth – because it’s invisible! The SureSmile system is easily removable and allows you to eat and drink what you want while in treatment, and brushing and flossing are no problem!
Intra-Oral Camera
The dentist works hand-in-hand with patients to create a bond of teamwork. The amazing intra-oral camera is a miniature video camera that displays a closeup picture of the inside of your mouth. You can see for yourself what work needs to be done and which teeth are doing fine. You then become a participant in each dental decision. You’ll love how this works!
No More Goopy Impressions!
Remember the old tray-and-putty impressions we used to have to make for things like crowns? Not anymore! We have a digital scanner that allows us to take three-dimensional impressions for a whole list of dental needs, including crowns and bridges, inlays and onlays, veneers, clear aligners, and even mouthguards. Dr. Kava takes a digital impression of the area, which goes right into the computer and is available for viewing to design your new smile. Then the files can be used to create the tooth or sent to the lab for aligners or veneers. The accuracy is unparalleled, all but guaranteeing a perfect fit and an easy application. You spend less time at the dentist’s office and more time enjoying your new smile!
The Importance of Infection Control in a Dental Office
We take the safety of all our patients very seriously. Without proper sterilization of water lines it’s possible to spread contaminants, which can be dangerous. Here at Dr. Kava’s Sioux City Dental, we take this very seriously. We use a system called DentaPure™. It’s the same purification system developed for use on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. This advanced system keeps our water lines free from possible contaminants.
We also use the most current, state-of-the-art sterilization system to disinfect and clean all dental instruments to ensure that there is never any cross-contamination. Extra-oral suction in the operatories traps and removes aerosols from the air, and our UV light box allows us to disinfect anything from keys to masks. Each operatory is disinfected with ADA-approved cleaners between patients.
Digital X-Rays
Traditional dental X-rays have been “good enough,” but digital X-rays provide clearer and much more accurate pictures of what’s going on inside a patient’s mouth. This makes it easier for the doctor to diagnose issues. Leaks or breaks in dental fillings that used to go unnoticed, often leading to root canals, can now be found and treated before major damage is done. We can also view your entire mouth in one shot, including the upper and lower jaws, with panoramic digital images.
The Laser Scanner Finds Ultrasmall Cavities Years Earlier
Have you ever had a dentist find a cavity and place a large filling, and wondered why the filling is so large if the cavity wasn’t there just six months before? The cavity was there six months before – it just wasn’t big enough to show on X-rays, and it wasn’t visible to the dentist yet. The laser scanner can find cavities years earlier, when the small cavity can be removed and repaired with a small invisible bonded filling. Sometimes patients complain of tooth sensitivity, or mild to severe pain, yet X-rays and examination cannot pinpoint the source. Patients are often given sensitivity toothpaste to deal with the problem. Sometimes, dentists have to perform root canals to get the pain or sensitivity to stop, when the actual source turned out to be undetectable decay. The laser scanner can detect previously undetected decay and, once identified, allow us to remove the discomfort and leave you with a healthy smile.