Albert Caves, DMD

River Road tracks the Chattahoochee north out of Columbus, and the practice of Dr. Albert Caves sits along it at number 5900, well clear of downtown. It is a general office in the fullest sense of the word: cleanings, fillings, extractions and children's care on one side of the ledger; whitening, veneers, composite bonding and clear aligners on the other; crowns, root canals, dentures, orthodontics, TMJ treatment and full mouth reconstruction in between. Implant work is a defined focus, All-on-Four and implant-secured dentures included, for patients replacing a complete arch rather than a single tooth.

Chairside equipment includes a CEREC milling unit, digital X-rays, an intraoral camera and a soft tissue laser, with oral cancer screening carried out as part of the routine examination. The milling unit is the one patients notice. A ceramic crown is cut from a solid block in the building and fitted at the same appointment, which takes the laboratory out of the loop for suitable teeth. The catch sits in that word suitable. A digital scan can only produce an accurate crown where the camera sees a clean, dry edge the whole way round the prepared tooth, so a fracture running under the gumline, or tissue that keeps bleeding at the margin, still points toward a temporary crown and a second visit.

Implant-secured dentures deserve a clear explanation before you start comparing quotes. An unsupported lower denture sits straight onto the bony ridge and the gum covering it, which is why it wanders mid-meal; two to four implants fitted with attachments clamp that same denture down, transforming chewing while still leaving an appliance you remove at night. A fixed full-arch bridge on four or more implants is a different and considerably costlier treatment that stays in permanently. Both get described loosely as implant dentures, and confusing the two is the most common reason two quotes look wildly apart.

Bone volume drives what is feasible at all. A jaw that has gone years without teeth has usually lost height and width, and grafting comes first, adding months before implants can be placed. Expect imaging and a written, staged plan before any figure is quoted. The clinic week here is four days, Monday to Thursday, eight in the morning until five, and nothing runs from Friday afternoon through the weekend, which is worth knowing before you build a schedule around it. New patients are asked to use a different phone line from existing ones.