General & Preventive Dentistry

Keeping Your Smile Strong

Regular dental care is an important part of your overall healthcare routine. Staying up to date with examinations and oral hygiene can prevent the development of severe complications later on. Furthermore, strong teeth and healthy gums have a positive impact on your daily life. We want to keep your mouth functioning properly well into the future. Visits to the dentist, coupled with daily brushing and flossing, ensure that your natural teeth remain intact and working well for years to come.  

Dental care done right includes regular checkups and thorough at-home care.
Call us today to schedule your next exam to keep your smile healthy.

Comprehensive Exams

During your routine comprehensive dental exam, we will evaluate your teeth and gums, taking x-rays as necessary and use an intraoral camera to conduct a thorough examination.

Oral Cancer Screenings

We take great care to conduct regular oral cancer screenings for our patients. We use visual observation and manual inspection to check for unusual spots or lesions in your mouth. By incorporating cancer screenings into regular dental appointments, we are able to identify problematic areas quickly. In turn, early detection allows patients to seek treatment before potential cancers have a chance to progress.

X-Rays

Digital x-rays give us an inside glimpse at what is going on with your teeth and jaw structure. Because these images can be produced quickly and are easily displayed on treatment room screens, Dr. Smith is able to review any issues with you before you even leave the office. He can point out any areas of interest, and you’ll get an up-front look. In addition to the ease that this technology affords us inside the office, it also allows us to communicate our findings with other doctors and specialists seamlessly, anywhere in the world.

Hygiene

We recommend regular professional dental cleanings as part of your oral care. Our oral hygiene services include the use of a Cavitron for a cleaning more thorough than at-home brushing can provide. This helps to prevent problems like tooth decay, and removes bacteria that lead to infections in the mouth and chronic bad breath.

Periodontal Therapy

Periodontal disease, more commonly known as gum disease or gingivitis, occurs when the gums become infected and inflamed. It is often characterized by bleeding during brushing or flossing. If left untreated, the bacteria associated with the disease can cause the gums to become inflamed – and even pull away from the teeth, leading to potential tooth loss.

When these pockets form between the gum and tooth, we often use a product called PerioChip to address the issue. PerioChip is an extremely thin, biodegradable chip that can be inserted between the tooth’s surface and the infected gum to provide direct antiseptic therapy. When partnered with traditional deep-cleaning techniques like root planing and scaling, PerioChip has been shown to significantly improve the state of inflammation in periodontal disease patients’ gums.

Fluoride Treatments

Topical fluoride treatments are very effective at protecting teeth against cavities. We offer fluoride regularly to patients under the age of 14 as part of their routine dental cleanings. A fluoride varnish is also available for adult patients on an as-needed basis.

Mouthguards

Protecting your teeth is important. A number of daily activities can have a damaging effect on your oral health. For some patients, particularly children, sports and other physical activities can put their smiles at risk. For adults, nighttime tooth grinding (bruxism) is a common source of pain and dental injury. In both cases, we offer protective mouthguards to keep teeth out of harm’s way. Specialized bite splints are also an option for patients suffering from TMJ disorder.

Anesthesia

Your comfort is our priority. To help you stay relaxed and at ease throughout treatment, we have both oral sedation and nitrous oxide available during certain procedures.

Emergency Care

If you require urgent dental care during a time when the office is not open, you can always leave a message with our after-hours answering service. We will make every effort to get in touch and find a solution to your problem as quickly as possible.

Technology

We pride ourselves on staying up to date with the latest technology. One of the most important tools in our office is the intraoral camera, which we use to show patients their teeth and gums from a dentist’s point-of-view. We have one of these cameras available in every operatory, ready to assist us in patient education and procedures.