Dental Health Examination
The dental examination is a systematic process during which your dentist will investigate your oral and systemic health in order to identify problems or concerns as well as develop a customised treatment plan to obtain and maintain your oral health.
At our practice we provide a complete 12 point examination by doing the following checks:
- We ask you how healthy you feel your mouth is.
- Do you have any specific concerns or questions you want us to answer.
- We will ask about any medical condition or medication you take that may have an effect on your dental health.
- Are you happy with the appearance of your smile and tooth colour.
- We check all surfaces of the teeth to make sure they have no signs of decay, damage, wear or chips.
- We check your fillings, crowns, bridges, implants and dentures to ensure all is healthy and stable.
- We check for plaque and hard deposit build up that cause tooth decay, gum disease and tooth loss.
- We check and monitor the health of your gums to make sure we detect gum disease in its early stages, as this is a risk factor for other diseases like heart, diabetes ect.
- We check that your tongue, lips, cheeks, roof and floor of mouth and glands are healthy with no signs of oral cancer that can increase the chances of survival dramatically if detect early.
- We examine the way your teeth bite together for signs of excessive wear as well as the alignment for possible Orthodontic treatment if needed.
- We check that your jaw joints and muscles is not causing discomfort and function normally.
- Finally we check the bone levels which support your teeth and if clinically indicated x-rays are taken to make sure the areas inside, between and underneath the teeth are healthy.
Why do we take x-rays?
X-rays are taken to see a more detailed image of the tooth and the surrounding structure that we normally are unable to see. The x-rays provide a lot more detail and allow the dentist to find cavities, check the health of the tooth root and bone surrounding the tooth, check the status of developing teeth and monitor the general health of your teeth and jawbone.
There are three types of x-rays we take at our practice:
Bite-wing:
- Detect decay between teeth
- Changes in bone density/levels caused by gum disease
- Determining proper fit of a crown
- Detect leaking fillings
Periapical:
- Show the whole tooth
- Detect abnormalities of the root structure and surrounding bone structure
- Show nerve damage or abses
- During root treatment it will confirm certain aspects of the treatment
Panorex:
- Show the entire mouth area – all the teeth and roots, in upper and lower jaws, maxillary sinuses, mandibular nerve, bone levels and TMG joints
- Detecting the position of fully emerged as well as emerging teeth
- Can identify impacted teeth like wisdoms
- Aid in the diagnosis of tumours