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Preventive
Services
· Check up · X-Rays
· Cleaning (oral prophylaxis) · Fillings
· Root
Canal · Extractions ·
Regular dental checkups are an
essential part of any prevention program. Regular preventive dental
care and maintenance are always less expensive than treatment. A
regular checkup, along with daily brushing and flossing, is the most
important thing you can do to preserve your dental health.
During your dental check-up, your dentist will look for gum disease,
cavities, loose fillings, broken teeth, infection, and signs of other
problems that could affect your general health. Many small problems can
be caught before they get big. Many small problems can be treated right
away.
Dental problems can be treated in their early stages only if you see
your dentist regularly. If you see a dentist only in emergency
situations, when you already have a serious problem, treatment may be
much more costly. In the long run, nothing is more economical than the
regular dental checkup.
Periodically, your dentist may ask you to have an X-ray exam. X-rays
help your dentist find hidden conditions that can threaten your oral or
general health. Treating these conditions at an early stage often
prevents more serious damage. Your dentist will request that you have
an X-ray exam only when it will benefit you.
Dental cleaning is a service that provides professional cleaning you
can only receive from a dental clinic. A routine dental cleaning may
include the following steps:
1. Scaling, or removing plaque and tartar from all tooth surfaces.
2. Root planning inserts the pointy front of the handle scalers into
below the gum pockets to clean buildup. This is also done to treat
moderate to advanced gum diseases. Sometimes local anesthesia is needed
to prevent you from feeling pain.
3. Polishing, or the finishing touch of rubbing on the surface of the
teeth
The amount of time needed for dental cleaning depends on factors from
plaque deposits, the complication of dental restorations, if any, and
your overall oral health. Patients with more tartar and plaque buildup
need longer appointment than those who have relatively cleaner teeth.
In a moderate case, with moderate plaque accumulation, dental cleaning
should take about 25 to 30 minutes..
Fillings can help restore the tooth structure and remove unsightly
cavities. A Filling may be used when only a small amount of tooth
structure needs replacement.
The Filling is applied and shaped to match the contour of your natural
tooth. As a result, the surface of the Filling restores the tooth's
natural shape. The Filling is also polished to achieve a natural luster
and appearance.
Also called endodontics, root canal treatment is the process of
removing the infected, injured or dead pulp from a tooth. There is a
space inside the hard layers of each tooth. It is called the root canal
system and it is filled with soft dental pulp made up of nerves and
blood vessels that help the tooth grow and develop. Once a tooth is
fully-grown, it can survive without a pulp. If the pulp of a tooth
becomes infected, root canal treatment is required. When this treatment
is performed, the pulp is removed.
After a root canal, your tooth has to be fixed (or restored) to look,
feel and work as much like a natural tooth as possible. Your dentist
may use a filling or a crown to restore your tooth. If not enough of
the tooth is left, your dentist may use a post to help hold the crown
on. A tooth that has become dark may be bleached, crowned or covered
with a veneer.
Some teeth are extracted because they are severely decayed, others may
have advanced gum disease, or else have broken in a fashion which
cannot be repaired. Other teeth may need removal because they are
poorly positioned in the mouth (such as impacted wisdom teeth), or else
in preparation for orthodontic treatment ("braces").
If
you need further clarification on any of these dental services or
procedures,
click here to contact us.
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