What Can Ozone Dentistry Do for You?

Today's modern Santa Barbara dental office is more like a spa than like the cold, imposing dental offices you may have visited when you were younger. Top dentists today understand how common dental anxiety is, and they go out of their way to help patients feel calm and to provide services like sedation and nitrous oxide for patients who fear dental treatments. A new option that is causing a stir in dentistry is the use of ozone in some dental procedures. One of the best things about ozone dentistry is that in some cases it can prevent the use of the dental drill to address problems

What is Ozone?

Ozone is sometimes referred to as "trioxygen." It consists of three oxygen atoms and is less stable than ordinary oxygen, which normally consists of two oxygen atoms. Ozone breaks down into normal oxygen within about a half an hour. It is formed from regular oxygen by the use of ultraviolet light and electrical discharge. Ozone is present in very low concentrations in the earth's atmosphere, but Santa Barbara dentists who practice ozone dentistry have machines that create ozone on demand. Ozone is known as an "oxidizer" and is used in numerous industries for cleaning and sterilizing procedures.

Ozone Properties and Modern Dentistry

Because ozone is such a powerful oxidizer, it can be used to oxidize things like the bacteria that cause dental cavities. Ozone also destroys the acids that are produced by the bacteria that wear away tooth enamel. When ozone is used to treat a cavity, the patient's own saliva is able to enter areas where mineral loss is present and work to harden these areas. When slightly damaged areas of a tooth are re-hardened in this way, the tooth becomes more resistant to future decay.

Taking Care of Dental Problems Painlessly

Santa Barbara ozone dentistry practices can avoid the use of a drill when cavities are caught in their earliest stages. This means no injection of Novocain. When tooth decay is more extensive, ozone can be used to sterilize areas of decay with minimal use of a drill or air abrasion of the affected area. The Santa Barbara practices that use ozone use FDA-approved machines to create ozone and ozonated water. The ozonated water can be used as a mouth rinse, for superior sterilization. Ozone dentistry for the treatment of cavities is very quick, too. The treatment itself only takes about a minute, which is far less than the time spent in the chair for getting a cavity filled.

Ozone and the Future of Dentistry

Ozone dentistry is the future of the Santa Barbara dental office. It is quick, painless, and produces superior results and in many cases a drill does not have to be used. Even people with fear of visiting the dentist find the process to be nearly stress-free. Standard dental cleanings and at-home dental care are still as important as always, but the use of ozone in dentistry has added yet another tool that dentists can use to deal with dental problems effectively.