Routine dental checkups are pivotal for maintaining optimal oral health. They provide a proactive approach, ensuring early detection and treatment of potential dental issues.
What are routine dental checkups?
A dental checkup is an in-depth examination of your teeth, gums, and mouth. It allows us to assess your oral health, identify potential issues, and guide you on maintaining good oral hygiene.
How often should you have checkups?
For most individuals, a dental checkup every six months is recommended. However, based on individual oral health conditions, some might require more frequent visits.
What happens during a checkup?
- Examination: We begin by evaluating your overall oral health and checking for any signs of decay, gum disease, or other dental concerns.
- Digital X-rays: These give us a deeper look into your teeth and jaw, helping identify hidden problems, from cavities beneath fillings to infections and abscesses.
- Cleaning: A professional cleaning gets rid of plaque and tartar, followed by polishing to remove stains and further clean your teeth.
- Guidance: We provide personalised advice on maintaining good oral hygiene, including brushing, flossing, and dieting.
Prevention is Key to Oral Health
At the heart of our practice is the belief in preventative care. Regular checkups allow us to proactively treat and prevent tooth decay, ensuring you maintain a healthy, radiant smile. We emphasise proper oral hygiene and thorough oral examinations and tailor our preventative care recommendations based on individual needs.
Our comprehensive preventative dentistry services include:
- Six-month checkups
- Oral hygiene and cleanings
- Fluoride treatments
- Dental sealants
- Periodontal care
- Paediatric dentistry
- Oral cancer screenings
We offer solutions such as night and sports guards for those engaged in sports or struggling with bruxism.
X-Rays & Assessment
The foundation of a successful dental treatment is a comprehensive assessment. Digital X-rays play a pivotal role, helping us visualise issues that might not be immediately evident during a visual examination. Dental X-rays can detect various problems in adults, from cavities between teeth and beneath fillings to infections and abscesses. For children, they are instrumental in monitoring tooth development, ensuring sufficient space for incoming teeth and assessing the development of wisdom teeth. Early detection through X-rays means timely treatment, ensuring optimal oral health.
What Problems Can Dental X-Rays Detect?
In adults, dental X-rays are often used to:
- Highlight decay regions that might go unnoticed during a regular oral check, particularly minor decay spots between teeth.
- Detect any decay happening under a current filling.
- Expose bone deterioration linked to gum disease.
- Uncover alterations in the bone or within the root canal due to infection.
- Aid in planning dental procedures like tooth implants, braces, dentures, etc.
- Identify a pus-filled area, which is an infection at a tooth’s root or between a tooth and the gum.
In children, dental X-rays are used to:
- Monitor for tooth decay.
- Assess if there’s adequate room in the mouth for all emerging teeth.
- Ensure that baby teeth are shedding at the right pace to allow the proper emergence of permanent ones.
- Examine the growth of wisdom teeth and determine if they’re impacted (unable to break through the gums).
- Detect other growth irregularities, such as cysts and certain tumours.