Comprehensive Family Dental Services in Lodi, CA

Smiles Depot offers a wide variety of general dentistry services to families in and around our Lodi and Stockton locations. From children’s dentistry to geriatric services and everything in between, you can trust our caring, professional team of dedicated experts. We make seeing the whole family convenient and easy, so everyone can enjoy the best oral health for a lifetime.

If you or a loved one have not seen a dentist in more than six months, we encourage you to schedule an appointment with us today!

What Is Family Dentistry?

We provide a dental services for all ages. Many oral health conditions can be passed down genetically or result from systemic diseases like heart conditions or diabetes. A family dentist will better understand pre-existing conditions and know what to look for to help you catch problems in their earliest stages.

Our general dentistry services include:

Cleanings, x-rays, and exams
Prevention education
First visits for children
Fluoride and sealants
Cosmetic solutions
Fillings, crowns, inlays, and onlays
Dentures
Dental implants
Gum disease treatment

We combine our extensive training and experience with tried-and-true techniques to provide advanced dentistry to help you achieve your best oral health.

Pediatric Dental Services

Kids in the dental office are a joy, especially those we have been treating since their first visit. We build trusting relationships with all our patients, but especially so with the young ones. They will form their opinion of the dentist through their interactions with us, so we set the stage for comfort and fun at an early age. For those children who come to us with pre-existing apprehensions, we work with parents to earn their trust.

What is Children’s Dentistry?

Everything we do is geared to protecting, monitoring, and correcting your child’s developing smile. We understand how important it is to take care of deciduous or baby teeth. Early preventive dentistry is essential in promoting proper speech, good chewing habits, and to preserve space for permanent teeth later on. We partner with parents to help educate and motivate our young patients about the right way to take care of their teeth.

3 Steps to Protect Your Child’s Teeth

Education – We stress the importance of good oral home care and balanced nutrition. From modeling brushing and flossing techniques to offering parents advice on how to stop bad habits such as thumb-sucking, we are here to help.
Prevention - Fluoride and sealant treatments help us protect your child’s teeth against decay in between routine visits. We encourage parents to start bringing their children into the dentist at a young age, so we can catch problems early and limit the need for complex dental treatments. Routine preventive care will help us keep dental visits fun for your child.
Early Intervention - Filling a cavity that is just below the surface will help avoid more intrusive procedures like crowns or extraction. We want your child’s baby teeth healthy and in place until the adult tooth is ready to come through. If your child needs orthodontic intervention, early treatment is the most effective and least expensive option.

Smiles Depot welcomes children ages four and up. We have a pediatric dental specialist who comes to our office, ensuring your child receives the best treatment possible for their developing smile.

Dental Care for Teens and Young Adults

As a child enters their teen years and until they are ready to leave the house, it is a little harder for parents keep track of how they care for their teeth or what they eat. This is a perfect example of why we want to help educate them as early as possible.

It is important to protect their adult teeth before decay begins. We treat adult molars with sealants and continue fluoride treatments to keep enamel strong. If your child is active in sports, we suggest mouthguards to help prevent oral trauma.

We keep a watchful eye on developing wisdom teeth. Our dentists may suggest extraction if your child does not have enough room for their third molars, if they are impacted, or if they are negatively affecting their bite.

A beautiful smile is important to young adults, and we work to keep them looking great with tooth-colored restorations and a watchful eye for orthodontic concerns. If your child needs braces, we will talk to you about concerns and the ways to fix them.

As your children leave the house and head off to college or a place of their own, we encourage parents to help promote continued routine visits. Too often, we see less of young adults for preventive care and more often for restorative treatments.

Adult & Senior Dentistry

Life is busy! Routine visits will continue to help us detect problems early on, limiting your time in the dental chair as well as out-of-pocket costs. We watch for failing restorations to make sure we catch any additional problems right away. Normal wear and tear on teeth will eventually take its toll on dental health. Adult exams will address dental problems and suggest treatment to support a healthy smile well into the future.

Gum disease - also known as the silent disease, many patients will not experience or notice the warning signs of redness, swollen gum tissue, or occasional bleeding when brushing or flossing. As we age, our gum tissue slowly recedes naturally giving plaque and tartar access the roots of your teeth. We look for signs of the disease as well as inspect your gum line during routine checkups.

3 Stages of Gum Disease

Gingivitis - This is the first stage of gum disease and can easily be corrected at home with a more vigilant brushing and flossing routine. If you have tender, swollen gums, bad breath, or bleed when flossing, schedule an appointment with us so we can help you stop the progression.
Gum Disease (Periodontitis) - Plaque and tartar can move under the gum line forming pockets that trap food debris and foster bacteria growth. These pockets will continue to grow and cause more harm to your oral health if not treated by a professional. We perform scaling and root planing to clean the debris and bacteria from the gum pockets and along the roots of your teeth. If needed, we also treat your soft tissue for infection. With gum disease, we request that you schedule cleanings three to four times a year, so we can keep the area clean and monitor your oral health.
Advanced Gum Disease (Advanced Periodontitis)- At this point, gum disease has moved well below the gum line, deep pockets have formed, and the infection has spread to the roots and bone. You may feel your teeth loosening and experience discomfort while chewing. It is important to get rid of the infection before it advances into your bloodstream. Deep cleaning with scaling and root planing is the first step so we can evaluate your gums and jaw bone health. We want to prevent you from losing teeth or restore any that have been lost. Treatment may include gum grafts to replace damaged tissue or flap surgery to help minimize the pockets.

Oral Cancer - We inspect your mouth at every checkup, looking for tissue changes, especially if you use tobacco in any form. If we spot any change we will recommend that you see your primary care physician. Catching oral cancer at the beginning stage will increase your chances of successfully fighting the disease.

Cosmetic Concerns- For professional and personal reasons, many adults are unhappy with their smile. We listen to your goals and help create a treatment plan so that you can achieve your best smile. This may include teeth whitening, veneers, orthodontics, or replacing restorations.

Dental Implants - If you have missing teeth, need an extraction, have suffered dental trauma, or are unhappy with your current smile, dental implants can be the solution. During your exam, we inspect your mouth to determine if you qualify for one of the following:

Single tooth replacement - Fills the gap of a missing or extracted tooth with an implant-supported crown.
Multiple tooth replacement - When you have a row of missing teeth or a failed bridge, we can use two dental implants to support a new bridge or partial denture.
Full arch replacement - If you are unhappy with your dentures or are looking for solutions to replace an upper, lower, or both arches of teeth, we can use implant-supported dentures to create a permanent, durable, and natural looking bite. To help you achieve your best oral health, we offer mini implants and All on 4 options to those who qualify.

Is Family Dentistry Only for Families?

No! We want to partner with you to facilitate great oral health into your future. Your primary physician keeps records of your health history, and any medications you take. A family dentist will do the same for your mouth, the gateway to your body.

We can help catch early signs of systemic diseases, monitor the effects of certain medications, help women avoid dental problems through pregnancy, catch oral cancers, and keep your teeth and gums healthy with routine visits.

Smiles Depot provides general, preventive, restorative, and cosmetic dental procedures to patients of all ages.

Dental Care for a Healthy Smile!

We welcome new and returning patients to our Lodi and Stockton dental offices. Choose the Smiles Depot location that is most convenient for your busy life and let us help you maintain optimal oral health for life!