At our office, a typical dental cleaning is a thorough and important part of maintaining your oral health.

Here’s what you can expect when you come in for your cleaning:

First, we’ll start by reviewing your medical history. This helps us ensure we’re aware of any health changes that could affect your dental care, like allergies or medications you’re taking.

Next, we’ll check if you’re due for any X-rays. X-rays help us see things that aren’t visible to the naked eye, like cavities between your teeth or early signs of gum disease. These are important to make sure we’re catching any problems early.

After that, we’ll perform a prophy, or a professional cleaning. This is when we remove plaque and tartar (hardened plaque) from your teeth. It’s a little more thorough than brushing at home, and it helps prevent gum disease and cavities.

We’ll also do something called periodontal probing. This involves gently measuring the depth of the pockets around your teeth to check for gum disease. Healthy gums should have shallow pockets, so this helps us understand the health of your gums.

As part of our cleaning, we’ll also perform a digital scan. This scan is done every year and gives us a baseline of your oral health. It helps us track any changes over time, such as gum recession or changes in your bite. These changes can sometimes lead to bigger issues down the road, so it’s important for us to catch them early.

Finally, the doctor will do a visual exam, checking everything in your mouth, from your teeth to your gums and even your mouth’s overall health. Based on their findings, the doctor will make recommendations for next steps, whether it’s additional treatments, further monitoring, or just keeping up with your regular cleanings.

Our goal is to keep your mouth healthy and catch any problems early, so you can have a bright smile for years to come!