Oral Exam

New patients receive a comprehensive examination which includes a screening for oral cancer, gum and bone disease, and systemic disorders. A routine oral exam is performed on established patients to determine any changes in dental and health status since the previous visit.

Your gum tissue is measured with a fine instrument ruler to calibrate in millimeters pocket depth between the tooth and the connective gum tissue around the tooth. Pocket depths more than 4 millimeters could indicate disease and infection. The deeper the pocket, the greater the extent plaque bacteria collects and infection in gum disease develop.

X-rays are taken as needed.

Tooth scaling and root planing occur as needed.

Routine cleanings also include a professional polishing (Prophy) that removes only the soft sticky plaque that is above the gum line.

Removing Plaque & Tartar With A Teeth Cleaning

As time goes by, plaque that is allowed to sit on your teeth eventually hardens into bacteria harboring tartar. Tartar reacts with the foods you eat and leads to tooth decay. Not only that, the bacteria in tartar can start to smell and is a common cause of bad breath.

During your dental checkup, we use a special tooth scaling tool that is used to effectively remove the hard build-up of tartar. This process is most commonly known as tooth scaling. Scaling will remove tartar build-up on the front and back surfaces of your teeth, just above the gum-line. Sometimes, we may detect tartar working its way below the gum line. In these cases, root planing, also known as a deep cleaning is necessary to remove this tartar from the tooth's root.

Oral Cancer Screening

During every dental checkup, we will visually check and feel around for any signs of oral cancer. We check for signs of visible lesions inside the mouth and gently feel around the jaw for any lumps or swelling that may be present. Many early signs of oral cancer can go unnoticed by people as they go about their daily lives but we want to make sure that your overall oral health is in as best condition as possible when you see us for a dental checkup.

Protect Your Teeth With Fluoride

For children between the ages of 6 and 16, we will generally incorporate a fluoride treatment to help strengthen tooth enamel that can prevent cavities. Fluoride treatments are also beneficial for adults.

Request an appointment and talk to us more about fluoride treatments and see if your teeth can benefit from fluoride.

Tooth Polishing

Rough tooth surfaces are exactly what plaque loves to grab hold of and start hardening into harmful tartar. After your teeth have been thoroughly cleaned, we will use a special tooth polishing tool and a flavored polishing compound to polish your pearly whites. Tooth polishing effectively smooths tooth surfaces making it difficult for plaque to grab on to. After tooth polishing, you will be able to tell a difference with how smooth your teeth feel, as well as visibly see that they're looking their best.

Digital X-Rays

It is recommended to have a full set of dental x-rays taken once a year during a regular dental checkup. Most dental insurance plans will cover the cost of x-rays taken once a year and should not be skipped out on. Dental x-rays will expose any problems that might be currently present and can be used to prevent problems that may occur in the near future. Tooth roots, jaw bone and sinuses are all visible with a quick x-ray which allows us to detect problems with the bone surrounding teeth and even allow us to see teeth that have not erupted such as permanent teeth in children or wisdom teeth in adults.

Safe, Digital X-rays
We use modern digital x-rays that use an extremely low level of radiation to create an x-ray. Digital x-rays also eliminate x-ray films from having to be developed which also minimizes the time you spend in our dental chair.

Air Abrasion

Whenever possible we use air abrasion rather than a drill. Air abrasion takes less tooth structure than a drill. Air abrasion also eliminates vibration, noise, and the odor associated with a drill procedure.

Your tooth can then be filled with a strong chemically bonded material that can be matched to the color of your tooth making it appear nearly invisible. Tooth colored fillings are beautiful in appearance and can be completed in a single visit.

Cavitron

A cavitron is a dental tool that uses high frequency sound waves to clean teeth. These high frequency sound waves remove plaque, tartar, and bacteria from your teeth and gums. Water is then used to flush it all away leaving your teeth clean.

Diode Laser

The Diode Laser is a great tool for shaping the gums and removing bacteria from the periodontal pocket, the space between the gums and tooth. Dental cleanings performed with diode laser therapy significantly improve the success of healing the gums.

Inflammation, bleeding, pocket depths, and the amount of bacteria are all greatly reduced as opposed to just scaling and polishing the teeth alone. Best of all, laser therapy has been shown to improve circulation and increase the components that speed healing, referred to as Biostimulation. With any oral procedure or surgery, Biostimulation reduces pain and swelling and can help your mouth recover more quickly.

Intra-Oral Camera

We provide our patients with an intra-oral video examination. This allows both the doctor and the patient to see the condition of the mouth at the same time, then discuss treatment options.

Isolite

Isolite is the only dental device that delivers continuous illumination, aspiration and retraction all in one easy-to-use, time-saving device that makes isolation easy and provides uninterrupted access to your mouth. Isolite helps your dentist work safer, faster, brighter and drier.

Panoramic X-Rays

Panoramic x-rays offer patients a complete detailed image of the entire mouth including the teeth, upper and lower jaws, sinuses and TMJ.

It provides a complete picture on how everything looks and relates to each other.

Sonicare

Sonicare's unique, patented combination of high speed bristle motion with extra wide sweeping motion creates effective, yet gentle, dynamic fluid cleaning motion. You get excellent plaque removal, especially in hard-to-reach areas such as between and below the gum line. You can count on naturally whiter teeth and healthier gums.

Sonicare is excellent in battling gum disease, dry mouth, bad breath and tooth sensitivity. Its sweeping motion is very good in cleaning around dental restorations such as implants, crowns and veneers as well as cleaning braces.

Sterilization

We use a powerful autoclave to sterilize equipment and dental instruments. This helps to safeguard against germs and contamination.

VELscope

The VELscope is an FDA approved device that aides in the early detection of oral cancer. This is a pain-free, non-invasive procedure where a safe blue light is emitted into the patient's mouth. The dentist is able to immediately view different fluorescence responses to help differentiate between normal and abnormal tissue.

Oral cancer when detected early has a greater chance of successful treatment. Most people are not aware of this disease until it has presented itself as a problem and by then it has progressed extensively.

We recommend yearly screenings for adults, especially denture wearers and smokers.