Routine Dental Care

Routine dental care is important for maintaining optimal oral health and overall well-being. Regular dental check-ups, typically every six months, offer numerous benefits. Firstly, they enable early detection and prevention of oral issues such as cavities, gum disease, and oral cancers. Timely intervention not only prevents these conditions from worsening but also saves you from potentially more extensive and expensive treatments.

Secondly, routine dental care helps to maintain strong and healthy teeth and gums. Professional cleanings remove plaque and tartar buildup, reducing the risk of cavities and gum inflammation. This, in turn, promotes good oral hygiene practices, preventing bad breath and boosting self-confidence.

Dental Cleaning

Dental cleanings and exams are the foundation for preventing gum disease, tooth decay and maintaining optimal oral health.

During your professional dental cleaning, our expert team will:

Remove plaque from the teeth – Plaque is a sticky substance that forms in the mouth from food, saliva, and bacteria. Plaque sticks to teeth and is the #1 cause of tooth decay and gum disease.
Remove tartar (calculus) above the gum line – Tartar is hardened plaque on the tooth surface or under the gums and is difficult to remove. (Tartar below the gum line indicates gum disease and requires a different procedure to remove it.)
Polish and remove stains from teeth.

Dental Exams

A dental exam will help to diagnose disease before it becomes hazardous to your health. Regular examinations can save you time and money by raising awareness of problems while they are small and treatable before they become expensive to repair.

Your dental examinations generally include the following:

Oral cancer screening
Gum disease evaluation
Visual exam of tooth decay
Review of diagnostic x-rays to see tumors, cysts, invisible decay, and other problems that can’t be seen by the naked eye.
Evaluation of status of current restorations (fillings and others)
Our team at Jo-Anne Johnson Family Dentistry strongly believes in the importance of regular dental exams.

** Remember, preventing disease is always better than treating disease. **

Oral Cancer Screening

During your routine visits to Jo-Anne Johnson Family Dentistry, we will provide an oral cancer screening. If oral cancer is discovered early, the 5-year relative survival rate is over 83%. If discovered late, it is only about 40%. This year, about 59,000 people in the USA will be diagnosed with oral/oropharyngeal cancer and nearly 11,000 will die. Early detection is key. If our dentist or hygienist finds something unusual that needs further investigation, it does NOT mean that you have oral cancer! There are all sorts of conditions that can lead to abnormalities in your oral mucosa and most of them are unrelated to oral cancer. Some of them will go away on their own and some may require some sort of action on the part of the clinician to resolve. In these circumstances, you may be asked to come for a follow-up visit so that the area can be reassessed and, occasionally, your dentist may refer you to a specialist for a biopsy.

Dental Xrays

You may wonder if dental X-rays are necessary and if they can benefit your health. Dental X-rays, known as radiographs, are a crucial part of your dental exams.

By using digital dental X-rays, Dr. Johnson can see things about your oral health and tooth structure that are impossible to be seen by the naked eye.

These items include infections, cysts (sacks of fluid that form on the roots of teeth), cancerous tumors, invisible decay between teeth, and the location of teeth that haven’t grown all the way in. In some cases, where dental X-rays show the location of tumorous growths, X-rays can be responsible for even saving your life.

Fluoride Treatment

Fluoride, a mineral that occurs naturally in many foods and water, helps prevent tooth decay. Fluoride reverses early decay and re-mineralizes your tooth enamel. In dentistry, healthcare providers use fluoride to strengthen teeth and reduce the risk of cavities.

Sealants

Sealants are a proven way to protect your teeth from decay. Each tooth is essential to your oral health and our sealants protect your teeth by applying a very thin layer of resin. With sealants, our doctors can protect teeth from harmful disease and decay. Preventative dentistry, like sealants, is a better financial investment than treating decay after it has started.

In the past, sealants were commonly applied in pediatric care to a child’s first permanent back teeth, but today dentists recognize that adults can benefit from this treatment as well.

Sealants are not permanent. With normal wear, sealants generally last about five years, but can wear off or chip earlier in certain situations.

When you are ready to feel confident about your smile, choose Jo-Anne Johnson, D.M.D. Family Dentistry for all your dental care needs. Our goal is to treat our patients with the respect they deserve and provide them with a comfortable and safe environment, where they will receive the highest quality of dental care available.

Routine Dental Care

Dental Cleaning

Dental Exams

Oral Cancer Screening

Dental Xrays

Fluoride Treatment

Sealants

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