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Dental Check Ups & Preventive Care Washington DC

Dental Exams & Preventive Check-Ups

Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to the health of your smile. DC Dental Spa provides the preventative care you need for beautiful healthy teeth for life.

A regular and consistently scheduled dental exam and checkup can go a long way in maintaining good preventative oral health care. They also are the best way to prevent emergency appointments from cavities, gum pain or infections. Unlike an accident, many issues like tooth decay, oral cancer and root canals can all be detected early at a dental exam and treated without future problems.

Our fabulous team at DC Dental Spa are proficient with our deliberate dental exams and checkups.  Our advanced dental technology in our clinic and the friendly atmosphere will help us evaluate any problems we might encounter. Call 202-333-9282 for an initial consultation and let us help begin a preventive oral hygiene program that, as we work together, eliminates dental problems in your future.

Who Should have Regular Exams at DC Dental Spa?

The short answer is everyone. All members of the family, from the little children with their baby teeth to your grandparents with dentures should regularly see our team. The health industry strongly suggests exams at very minimum every six months in addition to your twice daily at home dental cleaning routine. Not only are children as quite susceptible to cavities, but their baby teeth need our supervision to make sure they are growing in correctly and without any disease or decay. Even though your children eventually lose their baby teeth, that first set are just as important as permanent teeth.

As for the adult members of your family, routine cleanings and exams are important and simple habits to begin and then maintain throughout your life. As you continue to age from a young adult to adult to then a senior citizen, your risk for oral infection increases. As your teeth age with you, the hard enamel ages as well and get thin and weakens, making them more prone to cavities. Again, at home brushing and flossing twice daily will always help keep your mouth healthy, but our staff will perform a more thorough cleaning and screening for more serious oral issues.

Regular Dental Exam Expectations

During your visit with us at DC Dental Spa, we will examine your mouth with various pieces of equipment and specialized dental tools. These will help us perform a thorough cleaning of your teeth and mouth and perform various examinations of your mouth for possible diseases.

  • Gum disease – We will look closely at your gums and the teeth near the gum line to check for periodontal disease. This is a quite common problem.
  • Tooth decay– We will check each tooth for weakening enamel, any cracks or chips and areas of serious plaque buildup which can be a sign of decay and potential cavities or infection.
  • Existing restorations– We will always check any fillings, crowns, or other tooth restorations for signs of serious wear and tear, also allowing for future infections.
  • X-rays– These images allow us to see what is going on below the surface of your gums. X-rays will show us how dense a tooth is, how the root looks below the gum line, tumors, growths, cysts, or places of decay. Once we have more than one set of x-rays to compare from previous visits to the current visit, we can build a history and have a more complete set of data to monitor your dental health.
  • Oral cancer screening– We will closely scrutinize your teeth, gums, tongue, cheeks, lips, and throat for any signs of cancer or abnormal growths to biopsy for further investigation.
  • Education– Our staff will review with you the best ways to keep your mouth healthy at home, from brushing techniques and flossing to which areas of your mouth needs more attention. We will review with you nutritional tips to keep your mouth healthy that include avoiding sugar, adequate water intake and foods that provide the nutrients you need to keep a strong, healthy smile.

Deep Teeth Cleaning Information

Sometimes adults who do indeed brush and floss twice a day, schedule twice a year dental exams and checkups, and maintain healthy diets still run into problems with gum disease. When we detect gum disease in one or more areas of the mouth, we may recommend a more thorough cleaning, which involving cleaning below the gum line with special tools. This is procedure is called scaling and root planing, or a deep cleaning, and it removes tartar buildup, debris, and bacteria from below the gums which is the cause of the gum inflammation. If this gum inflammation and infection, called gingivitis, is not addressed early on it can lead to more serious stages of gum disease which will then result in tooth and bone loss.

Before we perform the deep cleaning, we may use a local anesthetic to help you stay comfortable during the procedure. After we are finished, you may have to introduce an antibiotic or an antibiotic mouth wash to help remove the infection from your soft tissue.

Keeping Dental Visits to A Minimum

No one can really avoid a dental visit all together, but you can absolutely keep your visits to a minimum. Once again, brushing at home twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste and soft brush is a terrific start. Flossing at least once a day helps remove plaque from between the teeth that the brush cannot reach. You can choose to rinse with a mouth wash or antibacterial rinse to help your gums stay healthy and disease free. Certainly, eating a healthy diet, drinking plenty of water and avoiding high sugar and high acid foods will help keep you out of the dentist’s chair.

Dental Cleaning & Examination Costs

Costs for each procedure can vary depending on how long the procedure takes, what additional materials the procedure may require, and the actual amount of work our team is required to do. Dental insurance may cover some of the costs for these as well as other elective procedures as they lead to improved overall dental health and long-term health care benefits. If you do not have dental insurance coverage or if you have questions about payment options, you are more than welcome to talk to our staff at any time.

High Quality Care You Can Trust

At our downtown office of DC Dental Spa, we will work with you to accommodate your busy schedule. Our entire staff shares in the enjoyment of developing strong and lasting relationships with each of our patients. We enjoy the trust that our patients continue to place in us through regular dental exams. We are both deliberate and thoughtful about exercising preventative overall dental health and delivering the enjoyment that comes with your healthy smile. Visit us today at DC Dental Spa, 730 24th St. NW, Suite 9, Washington, DC, 20037, or call 202-333-9282 for an evaluation and consultation regarding a thorough dental exam and checkup to help you build a strong preventative oral health care plan.

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