Dental Exam
Lake Oswego, OR
Dental Exam provided by Dr. Carly Petersen
in Lake Oswego, OR at The Dentist on Boones Ferry
 No matter the age, a lot of people tend to steer clear of the subject once they hear that they have an upcoming dental checkup. But, regular dental exams and checkups are paramount to keeping your oral health and that of your family. Getting dental exams and checkups every six months from our team at The Dentist on Boones Ferry allows you and your family to receive the professional dental care you need for your teeth and gums.
Why Get Dental Exams?
A strong connection exists between visiting a dentist and maintaining your natural teeth. Making those routine dental exams and checkups ensures that you keep a full mouth of strong, healthy teeth. Often, a big percentage of those people who have kept abreast with dental visits and exam appointments since childhood have fewer cases of adult tooth loss and vice versa.
Protecting your natural teeth is the best thing you can do. If you fail to keep up with good oral hygiene, you can expect to start wearing restorations such as dentures, dental implants, or bridges soon because you may end up losing your natural teeth. Dental exams are a form of preventive care because they help protect and save your teeth. Visiting a dentist regularly for checkups helps ensure that you will not struggle with persistent toothaches or infections like gum disease.
What Happens During a Dental Exam?
When you come in for a check-up and dental exam, our team takes images of your mouth, including the teeth and gums to determine if there are issues like infections or decay under the surface. Our dentist performs a visual inspection of the gums and teeth. At this time, the dentist is looking for any signs of decay, infection, gum disease, or even oral cancer. In the event that we identify any of these issues, our team discusses the treatment options with you. We may even treat minor cavities that day. However, if it is a treatment involving a major procedure, we will schedule you another appointment.
Often, during the exam, we do perform dental cleaning, which is referred to as prophylaxis cleaning. Sometimes, we may perform deep cleaning or simply scaling and root planing if we notice the development of gum disease. Even when there are no issues with the teeth and gums, we make sure that we clean the mouth so that you do not have any plaque or bacteria lingering in your mouth.
Besides the visual inspection, we do perform x-rays, if needed, to check for issues that we cannot see with the naked eye. For instance, if we suspect that you have a root canal or the pulp is infected, we take x-rays to see how bad it has been affected. Similarly, if we notice that you could be having recessed bone, we do x-rays to examine the nature of the recession. X-rays are crucial because they try to reveal what is happening beyond the visual areas. You could have an impacted tooth that is posing problems and our dentist wants to see how it is growing under the tissue. X-ray images can show the position of the impacted tooth. Additionally, we do gum disease evaluation and check the temporomandibular joint for any issues you may have.
Come visit our team at The Dentist on Boones Ferry to find out about dental exams and checkups and the role they play in dental health. Call us at (971) 377-1208 for an appointment. |
