Every new patient in the dental office deserves a thorough and comprehensive exam. I congratulate you for making your dental care a priority.
During your first dental exam, your medical history is reviewed and a baseline blood pressure is taken. A detailed oral cancer screening is done to check for lumps in the head or neck. We check to make sure there are no irregular lesions that have been there more than two weeks. A Velscope is used to detect lesions under the tissue.
An exam of the TMJ is done by checking the range of motion and the muscles for tension or tenderness.
We make sure there are no sounds coming from the joint such as popping, clicking, or crunching.
An airway exam is done, which includes a series of questions concerning your quality of sleep. We also look carefully at the oral space you have for your teeth, tongue and tonsils. If it is determined there might be an issue, more testing would be done.
When you have your first dental exam your teeth are charted for a record of what is existing. Your gum tissue is checked for gum disease and to determine what type of gum treatment or cleaning you need. X-rays and/or a CBCT are taken to see if there are cavities, abscesses, bone loss, TMJ problems and implant treatment. Finishing up the dental exam involves a final tooth-by-tooth condition check is done to determine if there are any problems that can be taken care of before they become more expensive or painful.
