Prevention is always better than treatment. By actively preventing disease and decay through regular home care, professional dental cleanings and regular exams, you will maintain a healthy, beautiful smile.

In addition, effective prevention can help you avoid costly treatments in the future to remove decay, restore teeth and treat gum disease. Regular prevention is truly your best investment.

Home Care: It all starts at home.

Adequate home care is necessary if you want to maintain a healthy, beautiful smile and avoid costly dental treatment in the future. The goal of home care is to regularly remove the sticky Biofilm of bacteria called plaque from your teeth.

Brushing

Brush your teeth twice daily using a soft tooth brush. Gently vibrate the brush in a circular fashion at a 45 degree angle to the gum line. Then gently vibrate the brush back and forth on each tooth surface until you have effectively cleaned the entire mouth.  You should take about ten seconds in each spot or about two minutes total.  You should also brush your tongue to remove the bacteria that causes bad breath.

You can use any soft bristled, ADA approved tooth brush. We also recommend the electric tooth brush Sonicare.  Both the patients and the hygienists notice improved health and easier cleanings with regular use of the Sonicare.  We carry Sonicares and other oral health products  for your convenience and are priced below suggested retail to benefit our patients.

Flossing

Floss daily to remove plaque between teeth that you can’t reach with regular brushing. Without flossing you are missing 25% of the surface area and the area most susceptible to disease. Take 12″ to 18″ of dental floss and wrap it around the middle finger of each hand. Pull the floss tightly, and then use your thumb and forefingers to slide the floss gently between each set of teeth. Curve the floss around each tooth and move the floss up and down along the tooth, going as low as you can comfortably get under the gum line. Use a fresh section of floss for each tooth until you have flossed the entire mouth.

Rinsing

Always rinse thoroughly with water after brushing (or after meals if you are unable to brush.) If you use mouthwash we recommend one with Fluoride.  If you use a strong alcohol rinse we advise diluting it with water or better yet choose one without alcohol.

Cleanings & Exams

Essential for the prevention of disease.

Professional Cleanings

Professional cleanings (dental prophylaxis) performed by a certified dental hygienist or dentist form the foundation for preventing gum disease and tooth decay. In a professional cleaning, your hygienist will:

• Remove plaque from the teeth — Plaque is a sticky substance that forms in the mouth from food, saliva and bacteria. Plaque sticks to teeth and causes tooth decay and gum disease.
• Remove calculus (tartar) above the gum line — Calculus is plaque that has hardened on the tooth surface and is difficult to remove. (Calculus below the gum line indicates gum disease and requires a different procedure to remove it.)
• Polish and remove stains from teeth

Dental Examinations

Dental examinations help to diagnose disease before it becomes hazardous to your health. In addition, regular examinations can save you money by alleviating problems while they are small and before they become expensive to repair, or in some cases, impossible to repair. Your dental examinations generally include the following:

• Oral cancer screening
• Gum disease evaluation
• Visual examination of tooth decay
• Examination of diagnostic x-rays to see cysts, tumors, invisible decay and other problems that can’t be seen by the naked eye
• Evaluation of status of current restorations (fillings and others)

We cannot express enough how important it is to see your dentist regularly. Remember, preventing disease is always better than treating disease.

Digital X-Rays

How do X-Rays Help?

Dental x-rays or radiographs are very important. They allow Dr. Scanlon to see things about your oral health that cannot be seen by the naked eye. These items include cysts, abscesses, cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, invisible decay that occurs between teeth, and the location of teeth that haven’t grown all the way in. In some cases, where dental x-rays show the location of tumorous growths, x-rays can be responsible for saving your life.

Are Dental X-Rays Safe?

Modern dental x-ray machines are very safe. We use only state-of-the-art, low radiation machines. The amount of radiation exposure your body receives on an airplane flight from Los Angeles to New York exceeds the amount of exposure you will receive from a modern dental x-ray machine. Contrast this minimal exposure with the risk of not finding an illness until it is too late, and you can see why we prescribe regular diagnostic x-rays.

We use Digital X-Rays which require even less exposure to radiation and they can be enhanced on the computer, copied and emailed as needed.