Routine dental visits are extremely important, even if nothing hurts. When something’s hurting, usually it’s because something has gotten severe. And by going to your dentist routinely, we’re able to catch things when they’re small so they don’t turn into painful and expensive procedures.
During a routine dental visit, we’re doing an exam. Usually that involves x-rays and taking a look inside the mouth to make sure there’s no cavities or anything going on in the mouth or infections that need to be resolved. And if there’s no infection present, often we’ll do a cleaning at this visit as well.
It’s important to come in every six months so that way we can detect issues before they become larger. When things get larger, they usually become more painful and expensive. Dental x-rays are an extremely important tool that we have.
With dental x-rays, I’m able to see in between the teeth, for example. Whereas when I take a look in the mouth, I can’t really see in between the teeth because they’re touching. Dental x-rays also are able to show us any infections that might be associated with the roots of the teeth or deeper down in the jawbone that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to see just by looking inside the mouth.
