Welcome To Forest Drive Dental Care

 Dr. Joanna Silver Dover

My passion for dental health started with my mother, Susan, a dental hygienist. She instilled in me a love for dentistry, and I applied to dental school fresh out of high school and attended an early acceptance program at the University of Florida. My undergraduate degree is in Human Nutrition, and I went on to continue dental school and graduated in the top 8 of my class. I continued my education at a residency program at Palmetto Health Richland, here in Columbia, SC. While in residency, I met my future husband, Michael Dover, at a gamecock tailgate and quickly decided that there is just too much to love about Columbia to leave. We have two children, Ethan and Weston, and a very fuzzy dog, Etta. . I hope that, in my practice, in all that we say, and all that we do, we are a testament to God’s love for all people.

Dental Implants

Dental implants are the ideal, most conservative, replacement for missing or nonrestorable. They look, feel, and act like natural teeth, and even better – they don’t get cavities!

Dental implants act like the roots of teeth and are placed under the gums. Sometimes, a tooth can be placed on the implant right away, and sometimes we wait until the bone grows all the way into the implant. Once stable, the implant can hold a single tooth, multiple teeth, or even dentures!

Our office places and restores both zirconia and titanium implants.

 Healthy Mercury Removal

 A “silver” filling’s main ingredient is mercury. Dental amalgams are comprised of mercury (50 -54%), silver (~22-32% ), tin (~14%),copper (~8%), and other trace metals. Each time you chew on a mercury amalgam filling, a quantifiable amount of mercury is released into your bloodstream. If you grind your teeth, or drink a lot of hot beverages, the numbers are even higher. Heavy metals affect each individual differently, and when removing mercury amalgam fillings, there is a large amount of vapor that is released. This vapor is more dangerous than playing with mercury like you may have as a kid, or even eating pieces of hardened mercury filling. When removing a mercury amalgam filling, small particles of mercury are created that are the size of microns.

Dr. Dover will give the patient activated charcoal before the procedure, place an oxygen nose for the patient to breathe through, a special adaptor called a “clean up” on the high-volume evacuator tip, a filter on the patient’s chest right under his or her nose, and will either use an Isolite suction, or a rubber dental dam to keep any mercury filling from being ingested. For patients who desire chelation therapy with amalgam removal, we work with a naturopathic physician who holds her MD and is board certified and Family Medicine and Internal Medicine. She may give you a provoked and unprovoked urine mercury screening to determine if chelation therapy at amalgam removal is the correct treatment option for you.

These small particles are easily absorbed by your gum tissue and into your lungs. Mercury amalgam fillings need to be replaced for a number of different reasons, and our office strives to protect both the patient and ourselves when we replace these fillings. The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology’s (IAOMT.org) mission is to raise awareness about the dangers of mercury amalgam fillings. The Academy has published guidelines for dentists to follow when removing these types of fillings.