When you undergo preventive care, this can help you avoid issues down the road that threaten oral health, such as tooth decay and gum disease. People of all ages benefit from these visits, from kids to adults. In today’s blog, your Celina, TX, dentist talks about preventive dentistry.
Your Initial Checkup and Cleaning
Your preventive dentistry experience begins with a simple dental checkup. A visit for an exam allows our team to closely examine your teeth, gums, roots, and oral structures for signs of trouble. We can catch issues early, often before you experience discomfort, and then provide care to protect your smile. To make a diagnosis with precision and accuracy, our team will use digital x-rays and intraoral cameras. We will look for common issues like tooth decay, gingivitis, infection, gum disease, TMJ disorder, and even bruxism (teeth grinding). These are dental visits for kids and adults alike.
In the same visit, we will also clean the teeth. A dental cleaning involves the use of an ultrasonic scaling device and a manual tool to gently but thoroughly break up and remove all plaque and tartar buildup. We then polish your smile, which not only brightens it, but makes it more difficult for plaque and tartar to adhere to the teeth before your next cleaning. This helps lower the risk of bad breath, teeth stains, gingivitis, and gum disease.
Perio Cleanings
If you have experienced the symptoms of gingivitis or gum disease, such as sore, red gums that bleed easily, gum recession, or swelling, then we could recommend a more thorough cleaning known as a perio cleaning. Using the same tools and technology, we remove buildup from both the teeth and the roots, often beneath the gum line too. The procedure could take one visit or up to four, depending on how severe your buildup is. Since this is more involved, we will administer a local anesthesia to keep you comfortable. This can reverse gingivitis and make gum disease manageable with traditional cleanings every three to four months.
Treating Bruxism and TMJ Disorder
Preventive dentistry can also help address jaw joint concerns that impact many people in our community. TMJ disorder occurs when the jaw joints undergo excessive strain and stress, leading to a disorder that complicates how you open and close your mouth. Bruxism is a disorder in which you grind and clench your teeth nightly, which wears down enamel and damages teeth. Both can be caused by stress, tooth loss, misalignment, injuries, or issues with the growth of your smile. Both can also cause headaches, migraines, jaw and facial pain, neck and shoulder aches, and toothaches or tooth sensitivity. Our team can use a custom oral appliance, which looks and fits like a mouthguard, to bring relief and prevent further damage or discomfort in your smile.
Silver Diamine Fluoride
What if we discover the early stages of a cavity, but a filling isn’t necessary at the moment? With preventive dentistry, we can offer a treatment that halts the decay and protects the tooth. Silver Diamine Fluoride is a unique material that is applied to the weakened areas of the tooth to prevent a cavity from forming, so you avoid the need for a filling. Placement takes minutes, and this can help smiles of all ages, from kids to adults.
Children’s Dentistry
Our team can treat issues concerning teen and adult smiles, and even to address oral health issues that impact seniors. But we also offer care for kids of all ages, from babies and to preteens. For example, we can conduct an exam that looks for the issues that tend to occur in little smiles, such as baby teeth that don’t fall out on schedule or issues with the eruption of permanent teeth, along with tooth decay. We can clean little smiles too to remove harmful buildup and safeguard the teeth. We also have preventive treatments to help lower the risk of cavities. During your child’s checkup, we can apply fluoride to strengthen the outer enamel. We also have dental sealants that cover the rear teeth and prevent cavities from forming there, as food and drink particles can no longer become stuck between the molars, which are hard to reach for kids when brushing and flossing. The sealants can last for up to ten years in some cases!
If you have any questions about preventive dentistry, or about the care we offer for kids and adults and everyone in between, then contact our team today to learn more.
Learn More About Preventive Dentistry At Celina Family Dentistry
Our team wants to offer care to help you maintain good oral health. To learn more about our approach to preventive dental care, then give us a call at Celina Family Dentistry at (214) 851-0130 today!
Recent Comments