When you come in for your semi-annual dental appointment, our Saint Louis dentists will complete a number of important objectives, to help keep your smile healthy and strong. These cleanings are about much more than simply refreshing your teeth. Here are some of the things you can expect during your six-month appointment:
- Oral Health Assessment
Our Saint Louis dental team will take this opportunity to check your smile for signs of infection or damage. By keeping up with your regularly scheduled dental cleanings, you allow our team to identify, and treat, oral health problems before they become severe. Hard-to-see cavities and gum disease, especially, are difficult for patients to identify on their own.
- Cancer Screening
We also complete oral cancer screenings during every cleaning. Because oral cancers often, initially, progress asymptomatically, professional screenings are crucial.
- Plaque and Tartar Reduction
During your appointment, our dental team removes bacterial plaque and tartar that has built up over time. If left undisturbed, plaque and tartar lead to dental cavities, gum disease, and chronic bad breath. This is why it’s important to stay on schedule with your professional cleanings: the goal is to have your smile thoroughly cleaned on a regular basis, so that plaque and tartar are not allowed to grow out of control. Your daily oral hygiene routine works to maintain this clean slate until your next appointment.
- Add to Your Oral Health History
By seeing your dental team on a regular basis, you enable us to maintain a comprehensive oral health history on your unique smile. This not only helps our dentist identify the smallest changes to your smile, it also allows us to anticipate dental problems that may arise in the near future. With this kind of information, we can truly get ahead of the curve when it comes to minimizing oral health problems.
If you’re one of the many people who has fallen behind on professional dental care, our Saint Louis dentists want to encourage you to take this opportunity to get back on track! No smile is beyond help; we look forward to speaking with you!