Cleanings & Examinations
Many people wonder if making it to their semi-annual dental appointment is really necessary.
The short answer is – yes!
Good preventive care helps reduce your risk for certain illnesses and can help you achieve and maintain the level of excellent oral health that lets you look and feel your best.
Providing Your Medical History
Your routine visits are an excellent opportunity to tell us about any issues or discomfort you’ve been experiencing in your mouth. You’ll also want to give a detailed description of your medical history and come prepared with a list of any medications you take.
Knowing your medical history allows us to gain a better understanding of your overall health. After all, there is a systemic link between the health of your mouth and the prevalence of many serious health concerns. For example, periodontitis (advanced gum disease) is associated with heart disease, pancreatic cancer, diabetes, and low birth weight in babies born to mothers with the disease.
Examinations
Symptoms of some dental conditions may be so subtle that only a dentist can identify them.
During your visit, we thoroughly examine your mouth and check for signs of tooth decay. We also evaluate you for risk factors associated with illnesses like bone loss and periodontal disease. This way, potential problems can be identified in their early stages while they are easily treatable.
Your dentist will also check your bite and may take x-rays or recommend other diagnostic measures.
Teeth Cleaning
During your visit, we will clean your teeth gently and professionally. Our dental team meticulously removes hard-to-reach plaque. At this time, we may also give you tips on how to improve your at-home care routine, and your hygienist can show you proper procedures for brushing and flossing.
A thorough teeth cleaning not only helps improve your oral health but also makes them look great! A good cleaning can also have a whitening effect on your smile, and your cleaning will leave you looking and feeling great.
Schedule an Appointment Today!
Don’t miss your semi-annual visit! Contact our office and schedule an appointment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Even with excellent hygiene habits, it's easy to miss small areas of your teeth. Over time, the missed plaque will harden into tartar, which can only be removed with a dental hygienist's tools. When tartar accumulates beneath the gum line, the end result is red, puffy, inflamed gums – the beginnings of periodontal disease.
Examinations are an important opportunity for us to check in with you, see how you are doing, and make sure that your teeth are healthy. We want to catch problems when they are small and can be treated easily. This allows for more comfortable and less costly dentistry for you. Unfortunately, by the time you are in pain, simple measures are no longer effective. Regular examinations allow us to nip this situation in the bud and keep your teeth healthy and beautiful.
X-rays are a dentist's most important diagnostic tool. Often, problems start inside your teeth or beneath the gum line. By the time the problem is visible to the naked eye, it can be painful and more difficult to treat. Using x-rays taken on a regular basis, we can catch problems early and treat them quickly and comfortably.
While our dentists can diagnose many conditions with a visual exam, we cannot always see what is happening beneath your protective tooth enamel or below your gumline. Digital dental x-rays make this possible and allow us to make an earlier diagnosis, potentially saving you time and money and allowing us to treat conditions before they become critical – or painful.
By offering digital dental x-rays, we have significantly improved the safety of the care we provide. Digital dental x-rays emit up to 80 percent less radiation than traditional x-rays and give us instant access to high-resolution images for proper diagnosis of conditions such as bone loss, decay, and infection.
The cost of dental x-rays is low compared to complex restorative dentistry, making them a good investment in your oral health and the appearance of your smile. Without them, we would only have part of the story when it comes to your health, and the rest would be left to chance.
If you have questions about the necessity, safety, or process of digital dental x-rays, we encourage you to call or ask at your next appointment. We are dedicated to providing quality dentistry that supports a healthy, comfortable smile, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Meet Our Doctor:
Dr. Daniel Nelson DDS
Dr. Nelson always had a desire to return to Guthrie County. He created Springbrook Family Dentistry to focus on matters most: you. He is passionate about providing quality dental care in a calm, comfortable, and clean environment. Dr. Nelson practices conservative dentistry that emphasizes prevention. This means he is honest and only recommends the treatment he would recommend for his own family.
Dr. Nelson and our team are continually learning about modern dentistry to exceed the standard of care. We only used the highest quality of materials and do not cut corners. ...