Are you unsure of what to expect during your regular dental exam? Are you wondering how often you need a dental checkup? What’s the difference between hygiene appointments and an oral exam? What is my dentist looking for? Here are the answers you want to know about an appointment with your dentist!

How often should I see the dentist

Your recommended dental visits’ frequency will depend on a host of factors, including age, pregnancy, medical health/susceptibility and your own smile goals. 

If you need restorative dentistry or orthodontic treatment, have periodontal disease, are pregnant, or have worsening health conditions, you may need to see your dentist more often. 

Additionally, if you have a lot of tartar buildup, you might need to see your hygienist more frequently; for many patients, 2-4 visits per year are recommended.

Dental History

At each appointment, your dentist will make sure they are up to date with your current health condition. 

Make sure to let your dentist know about any changes in your medical history, including pregnancy, new medications or new or worsening conditions. These can all impact your oral health.

Don’t forget to ask your dentist questions! This time is about you, so make sure you ask your dentist about any oral health concerns, sleep concerns and cosmetic preferences. 

Dental Exam

A dental exam includes much more than just a look at your teeth!

A physical exam of your neck and jaw will be done to check for abnormalities and symptoms related to oral cancer, TMD (temporal mandibular joint disorders) or a host of other conditions that affect oral health. 

Your dentists will palpate your neck and jaw muscles and bones to check for lumps, clicks and tenderness. 

As well, your dentist will perform an oral cancer screening inside your mouth. 

Finally, your dentist will look at your pearly whites, but have you ever been curious about what they are looking for? 

Your dentist will check for wear patterns on your teeth. Wear patterns in teeth can indicate clenching or grinding and glean some information about your diet’s acidity. 

The dentist will also look at the health of your gums and check for recession. 

Armed with all this information, then your dentist will determine what x-ray photographs they need. 

Dental X-rays

Dental X-rays, or digital radiographs, are essential for your dentist to see minor dental issues, like tooth decay, before they become painful dental infections. 

Many dental issues don’t appear to the naked eye until they have already become detrimental to the tooth structure. 

While your dentist is examining your mouth, they will ask the assistant to take the x-rays they need. 

The common X-rays your dentist will ask for are:

• Bitewing – a bitewing x-ray, honest in its namesake, will have you bite down on a piece of plastic. The assistant will take a side profile of your molars and premolars from the chewing surface to the root. These images will help the dentists see the bone level between your teeth to assess periodontal disease and check for cavities between the teeth. 
• Periapical – this type of x-ray takes a closer look at one or two teeth to examine the bone and surrounding tissues. The dentist can also use these x-rays to look for cysts, bone tumours, and abscesses.
• Panoramic – this 2 or 3-dimensional photo will let your dentist see your entire head and neck from any angle. These photos help the dentist look for signs of cancer, check for sinus issues, examine bite and jaw joint health and many other things!

You and your dentist will review your X-rays together. Your dentist will show you what they see, discuss your options and determine a treatment plan that works for you. 

Our goal is that patients leave with a better understanding of their oral health. 

Dental Cleaning

Besides yourself, your dental hygienist is probably the most influential person in your dental health routine. 

While you eat, sleep and drink, the harmful and bad-breath causing bacteria in your mouth are continually reproducing, forming plaque (called biofilm).

After 12 hours or so, you may notice a plaque buildup on your teeth’s surface, creating a sticky, rough texture. 

If left too long, the calcium in your saliva combines with the plaque solidifying it into tartar. 

That is where your hygienist steps in. The removal of dental plaque and calculus buildup is called scaling.  

Your dental hygienist will finish your dental exam by measuring your periodontal pockets. 

Your periodontal pocket is the space created by gum tissue coming unattached from the tooth. 

Healthy gums have unattached gum tissue, but they are shallow enough that yearly hygiene visits, twice a day brushing and flossing once a day can prevent the subgingival buildup of bacteria. 

If the patient neglects oral hygiene, bacteria will collect in this unattached gum tissue, causing inflammation and deepening the pockets.

This inflammation is called Gingivitis and is a mild form of periodontal disease. 

The symptoms can include redness, gum bleeding, pain, gum recession, bone loss and, eventually, tooth loss. 

The Canadian Dental Association has found that 11% of the population suffers from severe periodontal (gum) disease making it the 6th most prevalent disease in the world. 

The good news is that periodontal disease is usually preventable with proper oral habits. 

After your dental hygiene visit, your hygienist will schedule you back for regular visits to ensure that you are getting the optimal care and maintain the health of your gums and mouth. The frequency is customized based on the overall condition of your gums, bone levels, previous history of gum disease and your medical health. If you present with any of the above, we may need to see you more than every six months.  Patients who have bone loss, bleeding gums and or recession generally have to come every 3-4 months in order to decrease the bacterial load and stay one step ahead of the bacteria and prevent more damage. Together, you and your dental hygienist work to fight gum disease.  

Dental Checkup Cost

The Dental Administrator is a crucial part of your dental team. 

They are specially trained to navigate insurance policies, understand dental fees and schedule the treatment plan you and your dentist decided on. 

Long ago, the cost of a dental checkup was confusing, different at each dentist and all-around frustrating for dentists and patients alike.

In 2017, The Alberta Dental Association and College saw the need and came out with their first fee guide since 1997!

This guide sets reasonable pricing for most dental procedures, and lets dentists have the option to follow it.

Since its release, our clinic and many dentists across Alberta have adopted the fee guide.

To learn more about the cost of a dental checkup, check out the 2020 Dental Fee Guide.

Long before COVID-19 protocols, medical and dental professionals had worked diligently on the control and prevention of infectious diseases. 

For Calgary dental clinics, The Alberta Dental Association & College sets strict infection prevention guidelines.

Before Alberta dental offices could even consider opening back up, the ADA&C created specific COVID-19 regulations for control and prevention as well as staff preparedness.

These include stringent hand washing, pre-screening patient protocols, clinic layout preparations, personal protective equipment and even rules about receiving deliveries! 

Prevention

During a pandemic, we can never completely eliminate the possibility of transmission. 

But here at TREC Dental and all our clinic locations, we are following or exceeding all expert recommendations for infection prevention.

The World Health Organization stated the virus commonly spreads person to person through droplets from the nose or mouth of an infected person.

These droplets can land on and contaminate surfaces in the dental room. 

After a patient leaves the dental appointment, the dental assistant will wipe down all surfaces with a disinfectant and clean the room thoroughly before the next patient arrives. 

What about aerosol transmission?

WHO has stated more research is needed to determine the role of aerosols in the transmission of the novel coronavirus. 

What we do know is that outbreaks have happened in close settings with poor ventilation.

We also know that dental hygiene or other restorative dental procedures can create aerosols. 

So before your dental appointment, you will be screened for COVID-19.

We also ask patients to wear a mask once inside the clinic – we will give you one if you do not have access to your own mask, but supplies are limited so we ask you to make an effort to supply your own!

To further minimize the number of patients in our clinic at one time, we only have limited dental chairs open, and we stagger appointment times. 

If you are a high-risk patient in need of dental care, consider an appointment at the beginning or end of the day to further reduce your exposure. 

Aerosols During Procedures

During routine dentistry, including cavity fillings or a hygiene appointment, the high powered tools we use can create and distribute aerosols in the room. 

To reduce the creation of aerosols, our dentists and hygienists use high powered suction, which has been shown to capture almost all aerosols produced. 

Additionally, when it comes to aerosols, the highest risk of infection is to the practitioner, not to the patient! 

So, to ensure the safety and health of our staff, we might look a little different at your next appointment! 

To reduce the risk of infection to ourselves, we will be donning PPE, including masks, disposable or washable gowns, face shields, caps and of course, gloves!

In addition to PPE, all staff entering the clinic receive a COVID-19 screening each day. 

A Dental Scaler’s Journey 

All of our tools, if not disposable, are put through a multi-step cleaning process.

During an appointment, a tool is wiped between each use to remove fluids or visible debris.

After its work is done in your mouth, a dental tool makes a trip to the sterilization room. 

Soiled tools are put in an ultrasonic cleaner with a disinfectant for decontamination. 

This cleaner uses ultrasonic vibrations to shake loose any remaining particles  combined with a detergent to sanitize.

After their hot bath, tools will move to the autoclave.

The dental autoclave uses high heat to eliminate any traces of infectious material.

The autoclave reaches temperatures above 130 C!

How do I know if the dental office near me is safe?

Check your dentist’s website to learn more about all precautions they are taking to prevent the spread.

2020 is halfway in the books, and not a moment too soon! What a year it has been, with lots of great memes/hashtags/slogans including #cancel2020, #reboot2020 and so on. The year started out ominously enough as we watched Australia burn at a record rate, while faint rumblings of some strange flu on the other side of the world filtered over. A few short days later it looked like we might have a war between the US and Iran. In the aftermath of that dispute, tragedy struck close to home as a flight with many folks returning to Edmonton and other parts of Canada was tragically struck down. Before the month was out, tragedy struck again as a global basketball superstar, Kobe Bryant, perished with his daughter and several others in a terrible accident. The year had gotten off to a grim start. It had to get better, right?

Fast forward just 6 weeks, and that flu had become a global wrecking ball headed every which way. People were streaming a movie that (briefly) starred Gwyneth Paltrow, and had some wondering if the cause of her character’s demise was global Contagion or that she had consumed one of Gwyneth’s scientifically-questionable personal care products. “Experts” were still suggesting it was safe to travel cautiously, believe it or not. Once again, a basketball player entered the spotlight, mocking the precautions only to test positive for the Coronavirus days later. Overnight the NBA and the NHL shut down, and then most realized “this must be serious if professional sports are shutting down!”

Since then? The stock market saw its biggest single day loss in decades as Canada and most of the rest of the world turned off their economies. Planes stopped flying for the first time since 9/11. Grocery store workers and truckers heroically continued working out of obligation to the rest of us. Many of us began learning how to work from home while juggling computer time and physical space with our families who were also working and learning from home. We all wished we had bought shares in Zoom. We tried to remember how to turn video and audio off to avoid embarrassing ourselves in front of our colleagues as we tried to find substitutes for toilet paper which was all of sudden worth more than gold.

At least it’s finally July. We’ve adapted very well to the changes locally and nationally – wearing masks made by kids, grandmas or clothing manufacturers, 3D printed faceshields and realizing that just a little distillery-made hand sanitizer goes a long way (and goes best with a towel). While we may not be out of the woods, the progress we’ve made locally in containing the spread of the virus has been remarkable, especially when we look at our neighbours to the South, who just can’t seem to agree on ANYTHING.

We sincerely hope that you and your family have made it through this trying stretch safe and sound. Our team at TREC Dental took advantage of the time we were closed to update all our protocols and processes, and over the last several weeks we have put our new rules to the test with great results. If you are making it out of hibernation, and getting caught up on your dental care is on your list of things to tackle now that you’ve run out of projects at home, we’d be thrilled to welcome you back. You can find plenty of information on our new protocols on our clinics’ websites. All the best for a wonderful summer!