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Prevention is better than cure
Your 6-monthly Dental Checkup and Cleaning is one of the most basic elements of your dental health routine. There are certain dental issues that can be avoided from forming when you go for Dental Checkup and Cleaning regularly.
A Dental Checkup and Cleaning is essential to your oral health’s longevity. What if we told you that Dental Checkup and Cleaning could save you thousands in the long run? Or help your teeth stay healthier for longer? You’d never miss an appointment for Dental Checkup and Cleaning!
When your dentist inspects your oral health, they are looking for signs of dental problems such as built up plaque, chips, cracks and cavities. Without treatment, conditions like these can go from repairable, to contributing to more complex and severe issues such as gum disease or infection. The preventative measures your dentist takes will save you future dental trauma.
A dentist’s clean is nothing like what you can do with a toothbrush – purpose-built tools allow your dentist to clean between each tooth and chip away at hardened plaque. This will leave you with a clean-teeth feeling that you just can’t get otherwise!
What is a Dental Checkup and Cleaning?
A dental checkup and cleaning is exactly as the name suggests. It involves a thorough check-up from your dentist for potential dental hazards, cavities and gum problems. Then, the dentist will clean your teeth. Special tools allow your dentist to reach areas difficult to clean with floss and a toothbrush. Following the procedure, your dentist will also give you advice on your oral health routine.
Who needs a Dental Checkup and Cleaning?
As soon as teeth erupt, a Dental Checkup and Cleaning becomes essential to maintaining healthy teeth and gums. Here at United Dental Clinic we specialise in family dentistry; from the littlies to grandparents, we can care for everyone. Regardless of age or dental health, everyone should have a Dental Checkup and Cleaning twice a year to ensure their dental health is at its best and to prevent severe dental problems developing.
Benefits of a Dental Checkup and Cleaning
The most critical component of a check-up is your dentist’s feedback. Whether it is advice on how to improve your dental health moving forward, or the detection of present or developing dental health issues, this feedback is essential to dental health maintenance or improvement. Also, there is no comparison to that dentist-clean feeling!
In more detail
Dental X-Rays
X-rays are an important component of any dental care treatment plan. Acting as both a diagnostic and preventative measure, X-rays allow your dentist to gain more information about your oral health. X-rays are a type of energy that can pass through soft tissues (such as your cheek and gums), and are absorbed by more dense tissue (like your teeth).
The X-rays your dentist takes can be divided into two categories: intraoral and extraoral. Intraoral X-rays, taken from inside the mouth, are the most common in dentistry as they provide a detailed look at the teeth, bone and gums. This allows your dentist to find cavities, inspect the tooth roots and the health of the supporting bone, detect gum disease, see the status of developing teeth and monitor oral health.
Active Maintenance
Active maintenance encompasses any means taken, by you and your dentist, to maintain your oral health or prevent further issues. This is regarded as the healthiest approach to dental care, contrasting passive maintenance, where you attend to dental issues once they are developed.
Since it focuses on preventative care so heavily, active maintenance has you spending the least time in the dentist’s chair! Good news – if you brush, floss and visit your dentist for check-up and cleans regularly, you’re already participating in active maintenance.
Dental Clean Process
Do you dread having your teeth cleaned? While the procedure is generally painless, we understand that having hands and loud tools in your mouth can feel weird. Knowing exactly what happens during dental clean can help ease your discomfort.
1. Physical Exam (the check-up): Before your dentist or dental hygienist starts cleaning your teeth, they will inspect your oral health and look for any signs of dental problems. A small angled mirror is used for this, and sometimes, this includes taking X-rays.
2. Removing plaque and tartar: Using the mirror as a guide, your dental hygienist will use a scaler to remove plaque and tartar from between your teeth and from around your gum line. Don’t be worried about that scraping sound!
3. Polish: With the tartar gone, the dental hygienist will use a high-powered brush to polish the teeth. While the grinding noise might sound scary, this part of the process is a great way to get a deeper clean.
4. Flossing: Your dental hygienist can floss in places that you just can’t get right!
5. Have a rinse: Take a mouthful of water, swish it around in your mouth, and spit it in the sink. Repeat.
6. Topical fluoride: To finish, your dentist or dental hygienist will apply a fluoride paste to your teeth to help them stay strong and reduce sensitivity immediately after treatment.
FAQs
It’s likely you will not find your dental clean to be painful – especially if you are having them every 6 months and practicing positive dental health habits at home. Some people do find the experience somewhat uncomfortable, but with modern advancements in dental tools and techniques, this is decreasing also.
The conventional wisdom is that you should have a check-up and clean every 6 months. This way, you are in often enough for your dentist to monitor your oral health and protect against any potential dental issues. If you have teeth that are difficult to clean, or suspect you might have a dental issue, it may be necessary to visit more often.
Dental check-ups and cleans are relatively inexpensive, especially considering how critical they are to your dental health. The exact price can depend on your individual oral health situation, and the additional procedures you may need.