General Dentistry
General Dentistry refers to a range of preventative care and restorative services that can maintain or restore your oral health. At URBN Dental Uptown , we offer a wide range of general dentistry services like dental cleanings, dental exams and x-rays, composite fillings, root canal treatment, and tooth extractions. Please continue reading for an overview of what each of these services entails.
Dental Cleanings
It’s crucial for you to seek regular dental cleanings every 3 to 6 months. Regardless of how well you brush and floss your teeth, proper oral maintenance requires that you see a dentist frequently. This is because we can never get rid of all the food particles stuck in our mouths and these food particles eventually lead to plaque and tartar accumulation, which leads to bacterial decay.
That’s why it’s necessary to go for dental cleanings so that your dental hygienist can remove all the plaque and tartar and examine your mouth for signs of gum disease. During the procedure, the dental hygienist uses procedures like scaling and root planing to scrape off all the tartar and then smoothen the roots to reattach your gums to your teeth. Following that, they also use fluoride treatment to get rid of bacteria and to protect your teeth from bacterial infection for at least a few months. Dental cleaning is essential because it ensures that you always have perfect oral health.
Dental Exams and X-Rays
Prevention is better than cure. As such, it’s better to go for dental exams and x-rays to prevent diseases rather than to cure them later. During a dental exam, your dental hygienist will clean your teeth thoroughly and then explore the cavities of your mouth for signs of gum disease or cavities. If you do have any issues, they’ll be able to treat them immediately so it doesn’t spread further.
Dentists also study your mouth for signs of oral cancer so that you can seek treatment when the cancer is still manageable. This can be done by examining your mouth for red marks and cancerous lesions. The average person should go to the dentist once every six months. However, you should defer to your dentist’s recommendation because it depends entirely on your oral health. Some people need to seek dental exams once every 3 months if they’re at greater risk of gum disease and cavities. Others may only need to go for dental exams once a year if they have a low risk of disease.
Composite Fillings
If you don’t maintain proper oral health habits or if you don’t go for regular dental cleanings, it’s possible that you may develop cavities in your teeth. This happens when the bacterial infection starts eating away at your teeth. When this happens, the dentist needs to excavate into the teeth and remove all of the decayed parts. The cavity left behind is then filled up using fillings. Some of the most popular types of fillings are composite resin, porcelain, silver amalgam, and gold cast.
Composite fillings are the most effective types of fillings because they’re tooth-colored and they resemble actual teeth. As such, no one will know that you have tooth fillings. They also bond well to your teeth and provide strong support. Composite fillings are also extremely durable and they can last you a lifetime if you take good care of them.
General Dentistry
Root Canal Treatment
If you don’t treat your cavities and dental decay in time, the bacterial infection could possibly spread into the pulp chamber and the nerves. When this happens, you have no option but to perform a root canal treatment to save your tooth. During this procedure, the dentist has to drill into the affected tooth and remove all of the pulp and infected nerves. Once the cavity has been emptied, the dentist cleans it and seals it up. This stops the bacterial infection in its tracks.
However, it’s possible to completely avoid a root canal treatment if you simply watch out for the signs of dental decay. You should visit a dentist if you suffer from symptoms like persistent toothaches, persistent bad breath, a chipped tooth, a swollen or sensitive gums, etc. If you go to a dentist in a timely manner, they’ll be able to remove the decay before it reaches the pulp chamber, which means you’ll be able to avoid the root canal treatment altogether.
Tooth Extractions
As the name suggests, tooth extraction is a procedure in which the dentist removes an affected from its socket in the bone. This may be done for several different reasons. In most cases, tooth extraction is done if a bacterial infection has spread too far, so much so that even a root canal treatment won’t be enough. In that case, tooth extraction is the only way to prevent the infection from spreading to other teeth. Wisdom tooth extraction is often necessary because your wisdom teeth may not come out properly, which can lead to other issues like misalignment of teeth and overcrowding. Tooth extractions may also be necessary when you’re getting braces, during organ transplants to reduce the risk of infections, and other situations.
There are two types of tooth extractions — simple extraction and surgical extraction. You should consult your dentist to discuss which type of tooth extraction is necessary for your specific condition. You should also be wary while getting tooth extractions. You should only visit reputable dentists to make sure that tooth extraction is a last resort and that root canal is actually off the table.
Schedule your General Dentistry Session
At URBN Dental Uptown , we study your dental issues carefully and come up with one of the best treatment procedures to save your teeth and prevent dental issues. We offer minimally invasive procedures and only recommend complex procedures like root canals and tooth extractions if there are no other alternatives. For more information on our general dentistry services, please schedule an appointment today.