General Dentistry: What a Routine Visit Actually Does

General dentistry is the least glamorous part of what we do and, by a wide margin, the most important. Implants and veneers get the before-and-after photos. Routine care is the reason most people never need them.

Here is what general dentistry actually covers, and what is happening during those appointments that can feel, from the chair, like not very much at all.

What counts as general dentistry

It is the everyday care that keeps a mouth healthy: exams, cleanings, X-rays when they are needed, fillings, sealants, gum health, extractions, and the upkeep of crowns and older work. If you have ever had a check-up, a cavity filled or your teeth cleaned, that was general dentistry.

What is happening during a check-up

An exam takes longer to describe than it does to perform. In about twenty minutes we are checking several things at once:

• Decay, including between teeth where a mirror cannot see it

• The health of your gums, measured in millimeters of pocket depth around each tooth

• Signs of grinding or clenching, which show up as wear long before you notice anything

• Cracked or failing older fillings and crowns

• Soft tissue: a screening of the tongue, cheeks, palate and throat for anything unusual

• How your bite comes together and how the jaw joint moves

The cleaning that follows removes hardened plaque that brushing cannot reach. That matters because tartar sits below the gumline and keeps the inflammation going, which is the mechanism behind most adult tooth loss.

How often you actually need to come in

Twice a year suits most people. Some need three or four visits: smokers, anyone with a history of gum disease, people with diabetes, patients in orthodontic treatment, and anyone prone to decay. A few healthy, low-risk adults do fine on one. It is a clinical judgment rather than a rule, and it is worth asking what interval is right for you instead of assuming.

The reason the interval matters is that the two most common dental diseases are both quiet early on. Decay does not hurt until it reaches the nerve. Gum disease often does not hurt at all at first, and bleeding when you brush is easy to dismiss. Caught early, both are cheap and straightforward to treat. Caught late, they are neither.

The part you control

What happens between visits matters more than what happens during them. A few things carry most of the weight:

• Two full minutes of brushing, twice a day, with fluoride toothpaste. Timing yourself is humbling; most people are done in under sixty seconds.

• Clean between your teeth once a day. Floss, interdental brushes, a water flosser: the best one is the one you will actually use.

• Watch how often you eat sugar, not just how much. Sipping soda across an afternoon does more damage than drinking the whole can at once.

• Do not brush straight after anything acidic. Give it half an hour.

• If you wake with a sore jaw or headaches, say so. A night guard is a small thing that prevents an expensive one.

When not to wait for your next visit

Call us sooner rather than later if you notice any of these:

• Pain that throbs or wakes you at night

• Swelling in the gums or face

• A tooth that has been knocked out or feels loose after an injury

• A lump, patch or sore in the mouth that has not healed in two weeks

• A lost filling or crown, especially if the tooth is now sensitive

Routine dentistry is preventive medicine that happens to be about teeth. It is cheaper than the alternative, more comfortable than the alternative, and it works. If it has been longer than you would like to admit since your last visit, that is fine. We would much rather see you now than in two years with a bigger problem.

This post is general information and not a diagnosis. If something in your mouth is bothering you, have it looked at.

Hashimi Dental,

3701 Market St. Suite E

Riverside, CA 92501