What Happens During a Complete Dental Examination
We’ve all had a dental examination in the past – You have a few x-rays taken and the dentist spends 10 minutes telling you what they see wrong then you make an appointment to fix it.
At Ambiance Dental, we do things very differently. When you visit our clinic for a complete dental examination, we take the time to thoroughly assess your overall health as it connects to the various systems of the body that make up your unique oral health. Our goal is to truly understand the current state of your health and mouth and how that intertwines with the rest of the body. With that knowledge, we can then partner with you to improve and maintain your dental wellness so you reap the various benefits such as greater overall health, slowed aging processes, improved comfort, early disease detection and the confidence of a beautiful smile for years to come.
Our dental examinations are a thorough 90-minute assessment where we review your overall medical health to determine any potential areas that could be affecting your oral health. Using an in-depth 60 question dental questionnaire, we will discuss your diet, supplements, medications, sleep quality and the effectiveness of your digestive system. We strive to fully uncover all of the critical information for us to understand the relationship between your mouth and the rest of your body. Learn more about how your oral health is linked to your overall health here.
After our initial questionnaire, we begin a physical assessment of your oral systems. A full set of radiographs is used to get a clear picture for each tooth which we review with you to give you a full understanding of how we assess the teeth, gums, jaw bone and joints for optimal health and wellness. Ambiance dentists are also trained to screen for oral cancers and will check your head, neck and mouth for any signs of concern. Using all of this information, we then move into assessing the 4 major risk factors that define oral health.
1. Bite – Jaw and Joint Muscles
- We evaluate the jaw joint for sounds, movement and jaw muscle and joint health. This is not taught in dental school and our advanced training allows us to evaluate the health of your joint and muscles.
- This step also includes examining the bite which is commonly missed by many dentists. Patients may be unaware that the alignment of their teeth may be causing their teeth to crack or chip at a faster rate than they should for their age. This goes beyond having a straight smile, but considers if your upper and lower jaw work in harmony with your muscles and jaw joint. If not, this can lead to toothaches, crowding, jaw pain, and difficulty in chewing or even an unattractive smile. Without assessing the bite, the dentistry that may be completed will be unpredictable and can lead to pain when eating or fillings or crowns chipping and breaking more rapidly than usual.
- By fully understanding the shape and formation of your whole mouth, we can alleviate and prevent discomfort, wear and misalignment.
2. Gums & Bones
- The foundation of your teeth is the gums and bones which makes it critical to protect them. Our team will review reasons you are at risk for gum and bone infection. We take this quite seriously as these infections can increase your risk of stroke, heart disease and dementia. Infection in the mouth affects the rest of the body and increases your risk of inflammation. We will discuss research-based solutions to ensure we are working with you to reduce your risk of disease.
3. Tooth Health
- We assess the health of the teeth which includes looking beyond possible cavities. We look at why you are getting cavities and recommend a proven system to reduce your cavity rate. A healthy adult should not have more than 1-2 cavities and we take great care to root out the cause for you to solve the underlying issues causing decaying so it can be stopped.
- We will also assess your previous dental work. Large fillings weaken a tooth and increase the risk of a tooth cracking by 50% so we want to ensure they are well maintained. We will provide a plan to improve the health and structure of your teeth to increase their longevity and slow the process of wear and aging.
4. Esthetic Exam
- As members of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentists, and having helped thousands of patients, we are also able to assess how your smile fits in harmony with your face, lips and the rest of your face. The position, colour, shape and wear of your teeth are analyzed to ensure you can gain or keep a perfect smile.
The Ambiance team is continually upgrading our knowledge, well beyond what is taught in dental school, so we have the most up to date scientific information available to support you in the pursuit of excellent dental health. Our dentists receive specialized training to be able to delve much deeper into what impacts your health, providing you the most thorough examination available.
At the end of the examination, we will take the time to share the findings of our proven Risk Assessment system with you. This will explain how your current health affects your risk of future disease. We will also review any risks uncovered with your Gums & Bones, Bite and Jaw Joint & Muscles, Tooth Health and Esthetics. This will help you to decide on a plan with us on how we can improve or maintain the current health of your mouth. We can also advise how to help your mouth age healthily.
All of our recommendations are based on the latest scientific research and with you in mind.
We will find any underlying issues that are present, as well as those you may not be aware of, to put together a specialized plan that looks at your health as an individual and how to move forward for exceptional oral wellness for a lifetime. Ambiance Dental goes well beyond the usual quick check for cavities!
We would love to put our advanced, thorough process to work for you – ensuring a gorgeous, healthy smile for years to come. Book a complete dental examination with Ambiance today – we’ll make you glad you did!