PREVENTIVE CARE FOR ADULTS

CHECK-UP EXAMS

The American Dental Association recommends check up exams once every six months to make sure everything inside and outside of your mouth looks healthy. During each check-up, we do a detailed comprehensive head and neck exam. Some of the things we check for every six months are: joint problems in your TMJs (temporomandibular joints), oral cancer (even if you’ve never smoked a cigarette in your life), any oral pathology (like any weird lumps, bumps, or even canker sores) or unexplained orofacial pain, changes in your teeth and bite from clenching or grinding your teeth. We also go over diet and nutrition and talk to you about things like too much acid in your diet or whether you’re brushing your teeth too aggressively! Curious to see what’s going on inside your mouth? We have a state-of-the-art, intraoral camera that lets you see what we see during our exams!

CLEANINGS

Adult dental cleanings are done every six months to optimize gum health, remove stains, and plaque and tartar that build up on your teeth, under your gums, and around your child’s braces (if they have them!). We might also remind you to floss a little more, too.

If you plan on whitening your teeth, you’ll get the best results if you have a full dental cleaning first – that way, the whitening product will distribute more evenly on your smooth surfaced, clean teeth!

TOPICAL FLUORIDE

Right after your cleanings, we may apply fluoride varnish to your teeth if you are cavity-prone or have sensitive teeth.  The fluoride helps to remineralize your enamel which helps reduce sensitivity and prevents decay while doing so.

X-RAYS

The American Dental Association recommends that x-rays be updated every six months to catch decay as early as possible, which minimizes the need for invasive dental care down the road!  X-rays are also needed for spotting any bone and teeth pathology that may be asymptomatic but important to treat.

Did you know that your annual check up x-rays emit less radiation than a one hour airplane flight? In fact, one intraoral x-ray is equal to about twenty minutes of background radiation. We always make sure that our patients are protected as much as possible from our low emission, digital x-ray units.