Tag: dental exam litchfield

Many people today know about the importance of oral health and how it affects your overall health. Optimal oral hygiene requires a combination of proper and consistent daily oral hygiene practices at home and routine professional dental cleanings. This helps to protect your teeth from decay and keep the gums healthy, while keeping your smile bright. 

However, one thing that may not be clear is why the American Dental Association recommends dental cleanings every six months. Generally, brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing every day should help to remove most of the harmful bacteria from your teeth and mouth. But the small quantity of bacteria that remains may still pose a threat to your oral health over time, if it’s not removed. 

Some of the risks include:

• Excessive tooth wear and cavities from the acid produced by plaque 
• Bad breath from improper teeth cleaning 
• Teeth discoloration from the colored foods you consume and calcification and mineralization of plaque in the form of tartar or calculus, which attracts more harmful bacteria
• Minor gum infection or gingivitis, which is characterized by gum inflammation, swelling, and reddening. Due to sensitive gums, you may also notice some blood on your toothbrush or when rinsing your mouth after brushing. 
• Advanced gum infection – If there are no interventions, gingivitis can advance to a more serious case of gum disease known as periodontitis or periodontal disease. It affects the foundation of your teeth – the bone tissue connecting your teeth to the jaw. 
• Exacerbated health issues – the infection can spread from your mouth to other tissues, making it harder to manage other conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and dementia 

Cleanings for Optimal Oral Health 

Fortunately, most of these problems can be successfully treated or managed with professional dental cleaning and an improved oral care regimen at home. That said, periodontitis is a chronic, progressive, and episodic gum infection. If not treated promptly, periodontitis can cause severe bone loss that loosens your teeth with some even falling out. Though it’s irreversible, dental professionals can help you manage the symptoms and improve your oral health. 

Please visit your dentist today to examine the condition of your teeth and gums and determine the best type of dental cleaning in Litchfield MN to improve your oral health and reduce the risk of advanced gum disease and cavities.

Routine dental checkups and professional teeth cleaning in Litchfield form a vital part of preventative oral care. These preventive visits may also include additional services, such as X-rays, fluoride application, cancer examination, and so on depending on your personal dental care needs and your last oral checkup. Combined with a proper at-home oral care routine, these visits help you maintain optimal dental health, reducing the risk of tooth loss and expensive dental procedures. 

But How Much Can You Expect to Pay for These Routine Dental Visits?

The national average costs of popular dental services such as exams and teeth cleaning vary from one region to the other, and from dentist to dentist.

If you have a dental insurance plan, your cost of preventive care may be considerably lower, or nothing more than your monthly premium. Since dental insurance plans typically emphasize preventative care, most of them cover two annual dental checkups. That said, you should consult your dental insurance company to determine the various dental services covered by your policy, as well as the extent of the coverage. 

Final Note 

Dental insurance can provide savings when receiving preventive care services such as routine exams, professional cleanings, sealants for children, topical fluoride, and x-rays (usually one set per year). The frequency and benefits for each service depend on the type of plan you have, so you should always read the plan details carefully. Even if your employer does not offer dental insurance as a perk, you can purchase an individual or family plan to enjoy the reduced cost of most preventive and restorative dental treatments. 

To learn more about what to expect with routine dental visits and teeth cleaning in Litchfield, schedule your appointment today. Your Litchfield dentist and staff can help you determine the best oral care to maintain the health of your teeth and gums.

Six-month preventive dental visits are important for not only ensuring your long-term dental health but also reducing the risk of emergencies. These visits typically involve professional teeth cleaning to remove tartar (hardened plaque) that may contribute to dental issues such as decay, gum disease, and bad breath, among others. 

Dental Exam

Most hygienists perform the oral evaluation before teeth cleaning, as it may reveal that you need a full-mouth debridement (cleaning above and below the gums), as opposed to standard teeth cleaning of the exposed part of the teeth (above the gum line). During a routine oral evaluation, you can expect:

• Physical assessment of the state of your mouth. This involves an evaluation of your teeth, tongue, lips, mouth, jaws.  
• Periodontal probing – checking gum health by physical examination and measuring your gum pockets
• X-rays are not necessary during routine dental cleaning. But your dentist may recommend them to assess the extent of decay inside or between affected teeth. Depending on the results, you may need to schedule for scaling and root planing in addition to teeth cleaning. 

Teeth Cleaning 

After the examination, the dental hygienist will clean your teeth using special tools to remove tartar, through a process known as scaling. Next, the teeth will be polished using a gritty paste. This process is used to remove any surface stains. Finally, the hygienist uses dental floss to clean the area between your teeth. 

Additional services may be necessary to ensure your optimal dental health, such as:

• Gingival irrigation – It involves spraying a stream of medicated water in the problem areas to remove bacteria hiding in areas that are hard to reach with a toothbrush or dental floss to remove food debris and accumulated bacteria. This helps to reduce the size of gum pockets and improves your overall oral health. 
• Fluoride varnish – The dentist may recommend fluoride treatment to remineralize teeth with severely thin tooth enamel, to manage hypersensitivity caused by thinning enamel, or to prevent decay. 

Keep in mind that your oral health is connected with your overall health. So during your dental exam, the hygienist can identify the signs of certain medical conditions and diseases, such as nutritional deficiencies, diabetes, hormonal irregularities, and so on, and recommend the appropriate action to help manage them and correct the problem. 

To learn more about routine dental exams and cleanings, schedule your appointment with your family dentist in Litchfield today!