A General Dentist Discusses Your Biannual Exam

To complement your home oral hygiene routine, you should visit the general dentist every six months for an oral exam. The biannual exam keeps your oral cavity healthy and ensures issues are caught early before they worsen so they can be treated conservatively. Oral conditions tend to progress rapidly and may need costly and invasive procedures to correct. Oral health issues have been linked to general health, which makes prompt treatment even more critical.

Medical history

When visiting the dental office for the first oral checkup, the general dentist will review the patient’s medical records. The dentist needs to know about previous diagnoses to know if there is an additional risk of developing an oral health issue or suffering adverse reactions to an anesthetic or a specific dental procedure. Some medications can also increase the risk of gum disease and cavities.

Patients need to inform their dentist at every checkup if they have received any diagnosis or changed their medication since the last appointment. This will ensure continued personalized treatment. Also, patients should open up about past cases of dental anxiety so that the dentist can provide options to keep them comfortable throughout the appointment.

Dental x-rays

For those who have not had an x-ray in a long while, the dentist will take images of the oral cavity at the first appointment. The patient’s dental history and risk of tooth cavities will determine the regularity of x-rays after that. Dentists use x-rays to discover cavities, jawbone loss, or tooth eruption problems.

Visual evaluation

A visual examination of the oral cavity allows the dentist to discover signs of oral health issues such as:

Cavities: a dental probe will be used to check the tooth surfaces for signs of decay. Cavities can be reversed if caught early; else, a dental filling will be required.

Gum disease: the dentist will use a dental problem to measure the gap between the teeth and gums to detect gum disease. Gingivitis is gum disease in its early stage and is reversible with a professional cleaning and an excellent home oral hygiene routine.

Oral cancer screening: oral cancer usually affects the soft tissues of the oral cavity but can be treated successfully if detected early. The dentist will inspect every part of the mouth for strange lumps, sores, or rough patches and check if there is swelling or tenderness.

Dental cleaning

During the biannual exam, the dentist will also perform professional teeth cleaning. Dental cleaning, done twice yearly, is necessary to get rid of stubborn plaques and tartar on the teeth. The dentist will start by cleaning tartar accumulation with a scaler – it also reverses gum disease development. After scaling, the teeth will be polished with mild abrasives to clean plaque and other surface debris to make the teeth cleaner and reduce the risk of bacteria formation. If necessary, a fluoride treatment may be done to remineralize the tooth enamel and fortify it against cavities.

In conclusion

If it has been more than six months since you had a dental checkup with the general dentist, you should book an appointment as soon as possible.

Request an appointment here: https://buforddentist.com or call North Atlanta Center for Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry at (770) 932-1115 for an appointment in our Buford office.

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