Dental Check-Ups: What Happens at a Dental Visit and Why Are Regular Dental Visits Important?
Dental check-ups are vital for the overall health of the mouth, teeth, and gums, as they should be checked after a particular period.
At My Local Dentists Seven Hills, we offer a comprehensive NO GAPS OFFER for all patients with private health insurance. We aim to make dental visits affordable and convenient for you and your family.
This guide will explore what happens during a dental appointment and why frequent dental check-ups are necessary.
Why Regular Dental Visits Are Important
“Regular maintenance avoids the major breakdown.” Visiting a dentist every six months for a check-up and cleanup is crucial to ensuring your mouth, gums, and teeth stay healthy and functional. Regular visits help prevent tooth decay, tooth loss, and gum disease. Three of Australia’s top five silent diseases are dentally related: tooth decay, edentulism (having no teeth), and gum disease. These diseases are preventable through regular dental check-ups.
What Happens at a Dental Visit?
Dental Check-Up
Our dentists will thoroughly check your teeth and gums to verify your health during a dental check-up. We look for early signs of dental decay, oral cancer, and gum disease and address any concerns you may have regarding your smile, sleep disturbances, or aching jaw joints.
Dental Scaling
Scaling is performed to clean along the gum line and remove any plaque and calculus (tartar) that may have built up. Plaque is the soft, chalky residue of leftover food, while calculus is the rigid version that sticks to the gum line around the teeth. Both can cause damage to the gums and bones that hold the teeth in place, leading to gum disease. Symptoms of gum disease include bleeding, swelling, gum recession, and sensitivity to hot/cold/sweet/sour foods and drinks, cold air, or tooth brushing.
Prophy Clean or Polish
A prophy clean, also known as a ‘clean,’ polishes the outer surfaces of the teeth to remove stains and residual bits of plaque. If there are many stains on the teeth, a proper cleaning can help make the teeth look whiter and smoother.
Why Do I Need Fluoride During My Check-Up?
Whenever we consume foods and drinks high in sugars and acids, our teeth become weakened and softened at a microscopic level. Fluoride strengthens, shields, and reduces the activity of the germs that cause tooth decay by helping to remineralise the tooth structure. Research shows that teeth exposed to fluoride have lower incidences of tooth decay than those without fluoride exposure. The fluoride applied during your check-up is much stronger than that found in toothpaste, which is why it is used every six months.
Why Do I Need Dental X-Rays During My Check-Up?
Dental X-rays are crucial for detecting early signs of decay or bone loss that are not visible to the naked eye. They should be taken every two years to ensure the health of teeth and jaw bones. X-rays help look under the surfaces of the teeth, and more extensive whole-mouth X-rays, called OPGs, are used to examine the entire jaw and bone structures.
What Can Dental X-Rays Detect?
- Slightly decayed surfaces of teeth are not could not be seen using a mouth mirror
- An existing cavity, cracks, a root canal, an existing crown, an existing bridge
- The stage and extent of gum disease
- Abscesses or other sorts of infections
- Abnormal development of teeth like malformed teeth, supernumerary or hypodontia teeth
- Cysts and some forms of tumours
- Types of injuries that may be considered traumatic include those to the teeth and bones.
- Proximity of teeth to nerves and sinuses
- The development of wisdom teeth and the need for their removal
We recommend taking X-rays on your first visit and updating them every two years to ensure the teeth and jaw bones are sound and healthy.
Are Dental X-Rays Safe?
According to the Australian Dental Association, dental x-rays are safe for children and adults. The amount of radiation involved is meagre, equivalent to the exposure received during a 1-2 hour flight. Even if you’re pregnant, you can have X-rays taken, though they are generally kept to a minimum during this period. Dentists leave the room during X-rays to limit their ongoing radiation exposure, as they take many X-rays throughout the day.
Dental Check-ups in Seven Hills
Maintaining a healthy smile and avoiding serious tooth issues require routine dental check-ups.
At My Local Dentists Seven Hills, we strive to make dental care accessible and affordable with our NO GAPS OFFER.
By attending regular check-ups, you can avoid major dental issues and ensure your teeth and gums stay healthy for years to come.
Book your next dental check-up with us today and experience the advantages of regular dental care.
Contact your Seven Hills dentist at (02) 8605 1696 and take advantage of our NO GAPS OFFER.
We are at Shop 55, (Ground Floor) Seven Hills Plaza, 224 Prospect Hwy, in Seven Hills.