The Problem: The patient no longer liked the old bonding on her front teeth. It was yellowed and worn. Her center teeth were too short and the sizes were out of proportion. This made her smile look worn and slightly up-side-down.

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The Problem: This wonderful young lady and her family wanted a fuller, more beautiful smile. As a graduation present, her grandmother paid for her to come to Donaldson & Guenther to get it. When she came to us, she had spaces between her teeth; also, the center left tooth had been fractured and bonded previously.

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There are many things that please me deeply as a dentist. One of those is watching patients warm up, relax, grow in trust and simply have more fun as they get to know us. Most people have a bad dental experience in their past that has left them afraid, nervous and even suspicious of dentists. My whole career, I have tried to help people get past “dental guilt and fear” imposed by someone in their past and to help them enjoy good health and a beautiful smile; all as they experience comfort throughout their care.

Both Dr. Guenther and Donaldson (and our hygienists) get very positive feedback about how we make people comfortable with good gentle anesthesia technique as well as many other factors. To make dentistry even more anxiety free, more comfortable, less stressful, safer and even possible for more people, Dr. Donaldson & Guenther are advancing their training in oral sedation techniques from DOCS (the Dental Organization for Conscious Sedation). The medical word is “anxiolysis” which means “anxiety free”. With the help of light oral sedation ( as directed in our state: Michigan) many many people can overcome their fear, gagging problems, problems with not getting numb enough and post treatment discomfort. If you are one of those people, you should contact us to find out more. You may well be able to have the smile and dental health you only dreamed of until now.

The Problem:This patient was no longer happy with her old bonding. She wanted a bold bright look.

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The Problem:This young man had a number of congenitally missing teeth and many poorly formed teeth. He and his parents wanted a great smile and better chewing with the back teeth. They also preferred implants to replace missing teeth instead of bridges.

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The Problem: This patient had heavily worn out teeth as well as many fractured teeth and fillings. Gum disease was starting to undermine the stability of his teeth. Unfortunately. one of his front teeth was hopeless.

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When patients come in to see us, they are not very excited. They have had only “ho hum” experiences with other dentists, always being told what they need with no options, like they were only a mouth not a whole person.

“Wow” is what I hear after their appointment with us. I am always honored and amazed at how moved they are by their experience. It is what sets us apart! We provide excellent information to assist our patients in making good personal decisions. We do this by providing a long and short term plan, with a focus on current, emerging, and completely optional treatment. We help fit treatment into their life.

This is why I love what I do and why I look forward to coming to work after 15 years! Wow!

As experienced dentists, we know what can happen as stress fractures develop in teeth. Today, more people have teeth with small to medium sized fillings than in decades past. That is good. However, if those teeth start to show stress cracks, the part of the tooth that eventually splits away is large because there is more tooth. This is particularly true when the crack runs vertically up and down the tooth.

Unfortunately, a simple filling does nothing to help strengthen the tooth or stop the fracture. A filling sits within the fracture (almost like a wedge in a log). It is only a matter of time for the crack to grow.
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When our car windshield gets a crack, does our car insurance policy say, “No coverage until it breaks in half or until it shatters?” Does your medical coverage say, “No coverage on a fractured bone until it breaks all the way through?”

Of course not. We all understand that the situation can become much worse if we let fractures expand. However, many dental insurance companies eliminate coverage for restorations that are designed to make a fractured tooth strong again. Why? And why is it an important issue to you?
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I had a car accident 15 years ago and injured my front teeth. One tooth, in particular, was going to be lost. I had a root canal and two dental surgeries to buy some time but, eventually, loss was going to happen.

Well, this year it happened. I lost the tooth. I was terrified of losing my front tooth and the aesthetics of the replacement. I was excited and relieved to be working at Donaldson & Guenther because I knew they were the ones to do the best work.

Dr. Donaldson removed the tooth, did an implant and made me a beautiful temporary. I had little to no pain. My family and close friends have noticed my “happier smile” but don’t know about the procedures. My natural smile has been enhanced. I had worried about this for years. I couldn’t be happier!

Lori