Why do we need dental check-ups?
Dental check-ups are very important because it's the way that we can ensure your oral health is in good condition. During dental check-ups, we usually do an overall examination of your mouth to make sure that there are no problems and no issues with your oral health.
X-rays during dental check-ups
Dental x-rays are crucial during dental check-ups because we need to check for cavities. Some cavities are detectable without x-rays and visible, but when the cavities happen between the teeth, they are usually difficult to detect unless we use x-rays, especially if the cavities are painless and you don't feel them until they are deep enough in the tooth structure to cause sensitivity. The other thing that we need to detect with the help of the x-rays is the level of bone around the teeth. This is because the level of bone around the teeth, together with the gum, forms the supporting structure of the teeth, and that's a very important parameter that we need to check during the regular visits.
What other things are done during a regular check?
Other things that are done during a dental check include cleaning by a hygienist who removes all the plaque and calculus that accumulate on the teeth. Even if you clean your teeth regularly, there are usually some spots that are missed, like the inner surfaces of the teeth, the very back teeth usually are missed, and those spots get accumulation of plaque, which is all bacteria, which is the main causative factor of all the cavities and gum disease. So, the hygienist would clean that with instruments. And also, you get polishing of your teeth after the cleaning, and you get the application of fluoride, which helps improve the resistance of teeth to cavities.
After the examination by the dentist and the hygienist, we usually put together a treatment plan. All the problems are listed or charted. From there, in the next visits, we will start doing treatments. What has been charted during the dental check now turns into treatment. So, during a dental check, we can list all the cavities. You may need a night guard, improvement of your bite using braces or aligners, replacement of a missing tooth using a bridge, fixed or a removable denture, any kind of surgery or any hopeless teeth that needs to be removed. All of this would be listed during the dental check. So, now we have a treatment plan that we can start treatment in the next visits.
During the dental checkup, you also get the chance to ask any questions if you have any concerns like gum bleeding, mouth odor, problems with your bite, any discoloration on the teeth. This can be checked by the hygienist and by the dentist. If there's any underlying cause of that, it can be addressed.
Does dental checkup hurt?
Usually, we do not use any freezing and it's manageable by most of the patients. But if you have severe sensitivity or your teeth are sensitive to handle cleaning, then we can freeze you the same way that we do when doing cavities.
Finally, if you have any further questions or if you are ready to book an apointment, please give us a call at 519-668-7635.