If you’re looking for a dentist, either a new one or your first one, there are some different things to consider as you do your research. It’s important to feel comfortable in your dentist’s office’s physical space and with the people in the office, and it can be helpful to understand and manage your own expectations as your dental visit approaches. If you’re wondering what to expect at your dental visit, it can be helpful to understand the general process of such routine visits; the more times you see your dentist, the more accustomed you’ll become to their specific procedures and routines.
After deciding which dentist you want to see, the first step is to call and schedule a checkup. At this first visit, your dentist will take a complete medical history, including a review of medications; at each subsequent visit, make sure to tell them about any changes in your health status or medications. Following this initial visit, most of your dental visits will be checkups. These regular dental visits help keep painful, destructive conditions from developing in the oral cavity over the long term, and they also keep the teeth clean, shiny, and free from bacteria. Dental checkups regularly include a complete dental cleaning, usually performed by a dental hygienist. Using specialized tools, your dental hygienist will scrape calcified plaque, known as tartar, from the teeth at and below the gum line before polishing and flossing the teeth. Tartar develops when bacterial plaque is insufficiently removed from the teeth and allowed to harden, which can happen despite our best oral hygiene efforts, and tartar can only be removed with specialized tools. When allowed to accumulate, tartar leads to destructive gum disease, cavities, and bad breath, among other issues.
At your dental visit, you’ll also have a complete dental examination. Your dentist will thoroughly examine your gums and teeth, along with the entire oral cavity, checking for disease or areas of concern. In many cases, dentists will also recommend dental x-rays as part of the examination; these images can help diagnose otherwise unrecognizable problems like bone damage, impacted teeth, cysts, and decay. Contemporary x-ray machines emit very little radiation and are generally very safe, though your dentist will still take precautions for your safety before taking x-rays, and you should inform them if you are pregnant so that x-rays can be avoided unless it’s an emergency. Many checkups also include panoramic x-rays, which give the dentist a total view of the upper and lower jaws in just one image and help them establish a breadth of understanding of your mouth and teeth.
If you have good oral health and overall health, you may not need to see your dentist for another six months after your first visit, though sometimes dentists recommend a return visit as soon as three months later. If your dental checkup helps your dentist determine that you have an issue that needs addressing, like dental cavity or broken tooth, you’ll schedule this treatment visit before you leave your checkup. During your checkup, don’t be afraid to ask your dentist whatever questions you might have, and remember that teaching patients how to better care for their own oral health is part of the job description for any good dentist.
