Why are dental exams and cleanings essential?
Your dental health is very important as a general makeup of your overall health. The mouth is not disconnected from the rest of the body, and it can actually be a window into the rest of your overall health. Usually, a healthy mouth equals a healthy body. It's very uncommon to have an unhealthy mouth with a healthy body, so we have to make sure that you stay on top of your oral health in order to maintain your overall health.
What is included in a dental exam?
X-rays are always a requirement, so we can take a look at the teeth from the inside that we can't see when just typically looking at your teeth. We're also going to take a great look at all your teeth and your gums. We're going to take a look at the shape of your dental arches, the way your teeth come together to make sure there's room for your teeth and your tongue. You can actually get an insight into your sleeping and breathing all by looking at the mouth, and it all comes together to make an overall healthy body.
What are we looking for during a dental exam?
We're looking at the health of the entire oral cavity. We're looking at your teeth to make sure that there are no cavities, that nothing is breaking down, that there are no cracks. We want these teeth to last you a long time. Life is always much better with teeth. We're looking at the gums. We need to make sure that the gums are healthy because the gums are what is keeping the teeth in your head, and you can have healthy teeth but unhealthy gums, and you're still going to have a problem. We look at how your teeth come together so that when you're chewing, biting, and functioning, you're not destroying the teeth that you're relying on to eat your food. We're looking at how the teeth come together in an arch to ensure there's enough space for your tongue because the other thing that has to live in your mouth besides your teeth is your tongue, and the tongue needs to have room for itself. So all of these things come together to paint us a picture of what your oral health looks like so we can get an idea of what your overall health is looking like.
What kind of recommendations might come from a dental exam?
Anything from you having cavities you need to fix, gum disease that needs to be taken care of, or missing teeth that have to get replaced because missing teeth are going to affect the rest of the teeth. Just because we have 32 of them, you should have 32 of them. Missing one makes a big difference. We can take a look to see if you need to fix the bite because we need to make sure that the teeth are coming together properly. We can take a look to see if you may have a problem with snoring, sleeping, or breathing overnight. So all of these things are something that we can find off of a dental exam.
Are dental exams painful?
Absolutely not. We're just looking. We might use a finger to feel around, make sure that the gums, the tongue, and the cheeks are normal, but it's absolutely not painful. Sometimes we may need to do a little bit of a poke around the gum to see if there's any gum disease. It's a little bit of discomfort, but not something intolerable. Just bear with us so we can make sure we're doing you a proper job.
What are some options for when you don't have any teeth?
Option number one is a complete denture, meaning something that you take in and out every single day, but it looks just like natural teeth and you can function with it. You can talk, eat, and smile. Option number two gets a little bit more complex. With option number two, we start adding implants. It transforms into an implant-supported denture, which gives it a lot more stability because implants that sit in the bone now can have little buttons that snap onto the denture. The same buttons that you would use to snap your shirt together, very similar buttons for the denture to snap onto in the mouth. This gives it a lot more stability, and things aren't moving like they would be with a traditional denture. However, this option still requires that the denture has to come out. You still have to take it out and clean it. Option number three gets even more advanced. This is now all on X or all on four or a hybrid option. This is an option where we do more implants. We're talking four, five, or six implants, but now this is an option that you don't have to take in and out every day. This is an option that we can replace all the teeth, whether all the bottom, all the top, or all 32, and just do it with a handful of implants per arch. This is as close as it gets to natural teeth.