Preventative Dentistry
Regular oral maintenance ensures you are able to enjoy a healthy mouth as well as prevent conditions that would require more expensive and in-depth treatment. Routine check-ups are also effective at catching warning signs of bigger dental problems like abscesses and oral cancer before it’s too late. Preventative dentistry also helps you identify issues you might not have noticed needed treatment.
Cleanings
Regular cleanings are essential for a patient’s oral health as a hygienist is able to clean and polish areas your toothbrush may be unable to reach. Teeth cleanings are also more effective at removing plaque that builds up over time, preventing an infection in a patient’s gums as well as tooth decay. Cleanings are recommended every 6 months and are more often than not covered by dental insurance.
Fluoride Treatments
Fluoride treatments are topical and help to strengthen a patient’s enamel and outermost layer of their tooth. This helps to prevent cavities from appearing. Additionally, fluoride ensures a longer lifespan for restorative dental procedures and can even reduce pain experienced from receding gums and root sensitivity. Fluoride treatments are often given during the same office visit that a cleaning is administered.
Sealants
Sealants are an effective treatment for younger patients wanting to protect their permanent teeth from decay. A thin layer is applied to the tops of the back molars, sealing off the grooves of the teeth primarily used for chewing.
Mouth Guards
If a patient is actively involved in contact sports, a mouth guard can help significantly reduce the risk of injury to their teeth. Additionally, for patients that tend to unknowingly grind their teeth at night from stress, a custom mouth guard can minimize wear and tear which prevents further dental issues from arising.
CariVu
DEXIS CariVu is the newest technology available in the dentistry field which helps to identify caries and cracks in teeth. By tightly hugging the tooth and using a “safe, near-infrared light”, CariVu turns enamel transparent which allows dentists and hygienists to see into your teeth like never before! CariVu will capture pictures of your teeth for review and the dental team can share those pictures on-screen to help identify lesions. CariVu is new technology that is being integrated into dental offices to prevent overuse of x-ray imaging and is both painless and simple. CariVu can be safely used on every person as often as necessary since it does not use X-rays. This makes it especially beneficial for children, pregnant women, and those who want to avoid ionizing radiation.
How does CariVu work?
Lesions in the tooth absorb the light emitted by the CariVu device which allows dentists to see lesions that are within the tooth and not visible to the naked eye. With this technology, a potential cavity may be identified sooner which can call for more preventative measures. CariVu is particularly great at finding cavities between teeth in very early stages and for identifying cracks in the teeth.
While a visual inspection can detect about 2% of lesions and a bitewing X-ray can detect an average of 96% of lesions, the CariVu imaging device can detect 99% of lesions in a patient’s mouth. CariVu offers a safe and reliable alternative to bitewing x-rays and is available at Reynolds Family Dentistry. Just like X-rays, the images are stored in your record and can be compared from visit to visit.
