Our Services
Checkups & Cleanings
Recommended Every 6 Months
When was your last maintenance appointment with your dentist? If you’re not sure, it’s probably been too long. Your dentist recommends seeing them for checkups and cleanings every six months, unless otherwise directed.
Children, particularly, need to be seen more often since their enamel is thinner. Thinner enamel means that decay can progress much more quickly.
Keeping Kids Healthy
You show them this every day when you’re making healthy food choices, teaching them to limit sugar and when they watch you brush and floss your teeth. In fact, many families find that toothbrushing as a ‘family activity’ in the evening has been a fun way to get the job done without time spent in a back-and-forth about the fact that we need to brush our teeth.
Older siblings enjoy modelling good oral health habits to younger siblings who are just getting started and the online space now offers many oral health videos for kids. Have some fun with your kids singing and dancing along!
You might have heard people say that a child’s teeth are ‘just baby teeth’ and that it doesn’t really matter if they are lost or decayed. This is antiquated thinking and not an educated statement. Your child’s primary teeth are important to the healthy development of a strong jaw and they play an important role in helping to guide adult teeth into place. What’s more, disease in primary teeth do have the potential to impact the adult teeth before they have emerged into the mouth.
Your child’s early years are their most impressionable, so teaching good habits and offering good role modelling is very important. Your child doesn’t have to wait until they’re older to understand how and why we take care of our teeth.
Consistency is Key
For the best oral health outcomes, consistency is key. That means regular daily brushing and flossing and seeing your dentist on a regular schedule. Even without complaints, these appointments are critical to ensuring that any health conditions that are found are in the early stages of development. Since not all dental problems are symptomatic, waiting until a condition is obviously visible or painful is a recipe for less than positive outcomes.
Regular maintenance captures information on all areas of the mouth including the teeth, cheeks, lips, tongue and throat. Your dentist begins the checkup by examining the teeth visually before moving on to an annual digital X-ray that will display all of the teeth, root systems and bone along your dental arches. The visual portion of the check aims to identify indications of decay and checks each restoration to ensure that they are safely in place and not showing signs of needing to be redone. The dentist will check your gums for signs of irritation or recession and areas of the jaw and neck will be assessed for signs of bruxism, or nighttime clenching and grinding. If signs of bruxism are found, your dentist may recommend medication or appliances to mitigate the effects and reduce headaches and neck and shoulder pain.
Areas of concern in the mouth will be further examined using your digital Xray images once a visual exam is complete. These images help your dentist diagnose things like cavities that are developing between teeth where they are hidden, cysts that are beginning to develop or other indications of concern that lay beneath the gums.
Your dentist will discuss any findings with you and whether any procedures are recommended. This is a great time to talk to your dentist about any challenges you’re having with your oral health or to inquire about other services such as Invisalign® or teeth whitening.
Family Focused
Kid Friendly
Direct Billing
Professional Cleaning
Once you have met with your dentist, your appointment will finish with a professional cleaning that will have you ready to show off your smile. All cleanings are conducted by professional dental hygienists who are also available to answer any of your questions about how to keep your teeth healthy and clean. Your service will begin with scaling to remove any tartar that has accumulated around the gum line since your last visit. Once tartar is removed from the enamel, the teeth will be polished smooth with a gritty toothpaste. Your teeth will then be flossed before ending with a fluoride treatment. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the fluoride treatment, we ask that you do not eat or drink for thirty minutes following your appointment.
Taking care of your oral health is important for the health and wellbeing of your whole body. Don’t delay booking your next oral health appointment to give your teeth the attention they deserve. One appointment could save you time and money in procedures – take a proactive approach to keeping your mouth healthy and resilient.
For questions about this or other services offered by our general dentist, contact our clinic today.
