Your initial exam at Salt River Dental consists of a comprehensive dental exam, assessing any and all aspects of your oral health and determining what action may be required next. During a comprehensive exam the following steps occur:
- Collection of complete medical history
- Risk factors
- Head and neck exam
- Periodontal health
- Teeth exam
- Treatment plan
Your overall health may impact your oral health, so your Salt River Dental provider needs to know about your health, your diet, and review any X-rays you may have had taken previously. Once all provided information is reviewed, your exam continues with a thorough soft tissue exam to check for oral cancer. If anything looks suspicious, your Salt River dentist may biopsy the area and/or refer you to an oral pathologist to determine whether there is anything that needs additional examination or action.
The next part of the dental exam is the periodontal examination. This involves inserting an instrument between your teeth and your gums to assess the health of your gums. Measuring the space between the top of the gums and where your gums attach to your teeth help us determine whether there is a problem. If the space is too deep, it is difficult to clean well and may indicate periodontal disease. If you do have periodontal disease, your Salt River Dentist may recommend a deep dental cleaning, technically known as scaling and root planning.
The last part of a comprehensive exam is looking at your teeth – finally! We take note of any fillings, crowns, implants, root canals, cavities, fractures, or other elements of dental work that has been performed on your teeth. We examine your bite to see if there are any problems with it. We also look at all of your dental work – bridges, crowns, implants – to ensure all is well. Depending on the health of your teeth, we may order x-rays. X-rays are helpful in determining whether any damage or disease is present that is otherwise not detected during a regular dental exam.
If you have any questions about our services, please contact us today at (480) 948-6549.