Prevention

Your smile is one of your biggest assets, that is why we believe in
catching problems when they are small and easy to treat. This allows our
patients to stay healthy, comfortable and free from unnecessary
discomfort and possible toothaches. Everything we do in our office
revolves around “prevention”.

 

These are just a few of the ways we help keep our patients healthy:

 

Complete Comprehensive Examination and Dental Care
We believe that the best way to provide our patients with the finest
dental care that they deserve is to start all of our new patients with
a Complete Comprehensive Examination. This allows us to completely
evaluate your current dental health condition so that we can, along
with you, determine the best plan of treatment for your individual
needs.

 

Recare (Hygiene) Appointments
To help patients maintain and monitor their oral health, we recommend regular hygiene or “recare” visits. At this important visit, we will
clean your teeth professionally by removing plaque, tartar and stain
that has built up. We will take x-rays, when needed, to monitor the
bone support around each tooth and make sure that your existing
restorations are strong and decay free. Depending on each patient’s
individual oral health, the interval between recare visits will be customized for each patient and may be every 3 months, 4 months or 6
months.

 

Dental X-rays
Dental radiographs (x-rays) are an invaluable tool. They allow us to determine
what is happening to the tooth below the gum line and in between the
teeth, where we cannot see. The following conditions can
only be fully diagnosed with the use of radiographs: cysts and tumors,
periodontal disease and bone loss, decay, abscesses, and impacted teeth
. In order to properly care for our patients, we only take
necessary radiographs as recommended by the American Dental
Association and each patient’s individual needs.

 

Smaller restorations (“fillings”)

Decay is a widespread epidemic in America today. The earlier decay is
detected, the smaller the restoration that is needed to restore the
tooth. This means that the more tooth structure that remains, the
stronger the teeth. Smaller restorations mean stronger teeth and fewer problems
as your teeth age. Regular hygiene visits help us detect small problems early on.

 

Preventive Resin Restorations (Microdentistry)
There are naturally occurring grooves and crevices in the tops of the
back (molars and pre-molar) teeth. For some people, these grooves are
so deep and narrow that even the bristle of the toothbrush can’t reach
the bottom of the groove to keep it clean. This can result in decay
starting in the deep recesses of the groove. This is especially true
in children’s teeth as the permanent teeth start to erupt. When this
situation is present, we may recommend Preventive Resin Restorations.
When we place these restorations, we open the groove just enough so we
can thoroughly clean to the bottom of the groove and then we seal the
groove with a resin material. This will prevent any decay from being
able to start on the chewing surfaces of the teeth. These Preventive
Resin Restorations are the ultimate in preventive smaller restorations
in your teeth