Dental Check-up and Clean

We recommend visits every 6 months to ensure you are on top of everything, and what you are doing at home is helping keep your teeth healthy for life.

In general, a check up and clean will include:

A comprehensive dental examination

• This usually takes place at your very first visit with us
• This is not just for your teeth but your entire mouth, all your soft tissues, gums, your occlusion (bite), head and neck area.
• Your dentist will examine you from the top of your head to the base of your neck, they will be looking for any signs of disease or infection.
• These may include but are not limited to:  

 Checking for cavities

• We look at every surface of each individual tooth, we feel around with our little probe looking for softer enamel areas, this is what a cavity feels like (in case you were curious!)
• There are some areas we cannot feel, such as in-between your teeth. We normally use x-rays to check for cavities in-between your teeth.

Gum Health Check

• Your gums are just as important as your teeth, some might say they are even more important! Their job is to keep your teeth in. Without healthy gums, teeth cannot exist.
• Gums can be inflamed but you might feel no pain. Often the only sign of a problem is a little bit of bleeding. This can be the first sign of gingivitis (a reversible gum infection) or periodontitis (an irreversible gum infection)
• First we look at the colour of your gums, if they are rosy pink, they are healthy. If they are deeper red in colour and appear more shiny, they are inflamed.
• Next we use a periodontal probe (small measuring stick/tool) to check you don’t have any pockets (pockets are small spaces between your gums and teeth that trap plaque, large pockets are a sign you have lost some bone around your teeth)

Professional Clean

• We use handscalers and/or ultrasonic scalers.
• These are two very different ways to clean your teeth, If you have sensitivity, you might prefer a handscale, this uses no water spray. The dentist will gently run the scaler around your teeth to crumble the plaque away. If you have a lot of plaque build up, it can be difficult to only use the handscaler and an ultrasonic scaler might be required to remove some of the thicker more stubborn plaque.
• An ultrasonic is a small device that vibrates ultrasonically to crumble the plaque off your teeth. It uses ultrasonic sound waves to achieve plaque removal, it is usually very comfortable unless you have very sensitive teeth, water is used as a coolant through the ultrasonic and therefore can bring on some sensitivity.
• Your dentist will ask you if you have a preference, if you are unsure they can certainly test drive both options for you to feel. We find most patients don’t mind either and are happy to have both used on their teeth. This is great as they both have their advantages, you’ll get the best clean if your dentist can use both

X-rays

• You always hear that dentists like to take x-rays, this is true! Do you know why? Here it is:
  • It’s the only way we can see in-between your teeth, we look for cavities, check your fillings are doing well, see what previous dental work has been done.
  • We can sometimes see very small cavities starting in-between your teeth and we can warn you to floss more between those specific teeth to prevent a full-blown cavity (therefore preventing a filling)
  • Also to see the bone around your teeth, we can see if you have any bone loss that could be periodontitis (gum disease). This is a horrible silent disease where you lose the bone around your teeth, your teeth get loose and can even fall out!
  • We also check for bone abnormalities on your x-rays, especially full mouth x-rays called OPG’s. Sometimes this can indicate other things happening in your body.
  • If you are in good general health and your teeth are looking sound, we will only take x-rays every 2 years. We only like to take them more frequently if we see potential problems and don’t want to miss anything major developing.

Polish to remove plaque and stains

• This is where the fun begins! After we give you a professional clean with the scalers, we finish it all off with final polish.
• This is called a prophy and its designed to remove soft plaque and stains.
• The prophy paste comes in a variey of flavours that you get to choose from:
  • Classic mint, grape, berry, cinnamon, vanilla mint
  • This paste has a small abrasive to help remove the plaque but its also filled with fluoride to strengthen you teeth and CPP-ACP which is a cows milk protein to help harden you enamel!

Fluoride

• Sometimes you might need some extra fluoride, say you have a tendency of getting lots of holes in your teeth, or you have a sensitive spot near the gum line. Fluoride can help reduce your risk of tooth decay and help reduce sensitivity.
• This will be applied directly to your “affected” teeth after your polish, its advised you don’t eat or drink for 30minutes so it can work properly. Don’t worry it taste yummy, like mangoes!

Helpful lifestyle advice

On your first visit for your check-up and clean
It’s important for us to hear your dental goals and concerns. So the first stage of your appointment is getting to know you and for you to get to know us. Good oral health starts with understanding your lifestyle, habits and what you are looking for in a dentist.

Preparation.

• We ask that you arrive early to complete medical history forms.
• Of course a good brush before hand is always appreciated.

Getting the most of out of your dental check-up is about s about being honest with your concerns or problems

• Let us know any new health problems. This might include heart disease, stroke etc. Even if you think it might not be related to your teeth, chances are it is!
• Discuss any problems or changes you have seen in your mouth, your gums or your teeth since your last dental visit.
• Bring a list of medications or supplements you are on
• Let us know if you suffer from any dental anxiety or fear. We will always try to make you feel as reassured and as comfortable as possible.

It’s been a really long while since my last visit. Does that matter?

• No. Honestly we care about you and happy you made the big step to book yourself in.  
• Visiting the dentist for some can be daunting. Though we encourage you to attend. Dental problems generally only get bigger if left alone, over time the work required will become more involved (and unfortunately more expensive).
• -Most of the time, we find patients teeth are never as bad as they expect them to be.
• If you are anxious or nervous about visiting us, we prepared some handy tips that might prove helpful. 

Why we ask for your medical history

• If you have not been to see us before, we do ask every patient for their medical history
• If you have a family history of gum disease, for example, we may be able to diagnose and keep and eye out
• We need to complete your medical history every year or indeed if there is a life changing event.
• Some medical procedures and medications pay a big role in how we approach your dental care.