Check-ups & Cleans
At Gungahlin Family Dental, we believe in being thorough with our check-ups. Our check-ups are not just for your teeth, but also your mouth as a whole. We assess your jaw muscles and joints, do an oral cancer screening, and check your gums and cheeks, as well as look at your teeth and take x-rays where needed to make sure your mouth is healthy.
Preventative Dental Cleaning
We believe in making sure you are involved with your oral healthcare, taking pictures to show and explain to you any issues we may see, and offering preventative advice to help you maintain excellent oral health, so you can eat, talk and smile with confidence.
Cleaning your teeth regularly is important to prevent gum disease, and also to keep you looking your beautiful self! Ideally, we should get our teeth checked and cleaned every 6 months to prevent plaque and tartar build-ups which can cause gum disease, or periodontitis.
Problems with your teeth and gums don’t always cause pain early on, so it is always best (and cheapest!) to have a preventive approach to your dental care.
Do you get sensitivity with Cleans?
Talk to one of our team for advice on how to reduce sensitivity before your clean appointment
Our Check-up Checklist:
Initial Consultation:
First, we talk about your dental history and experiences, your lifestyle, what your risk factors are and how we can prevent issues from occurring.
Next, we check your lymph nodes, jaw joints, gums, skin, throat, and cheeks, as well as your teeth
What about X-Rays?
X-rays help us uncover any blind spots if there are any – where your teeth touch, and under old fillings. They can be small in-mouth xrays, or occasionally we may recommend a full-mouth x-ray to assess bigger picture issues like wisdom teeth and gum disease, jaw joints, or saliva gland issues. We have an OPG (full mouth x-ray) machine in our practice, so no need to go to a radiography clinic and back.
Tests
Sometimes, we may need to check for healthy responses to temperature and pressure.
Dental Photography
Sometimes we take photos of your teeth – this helps us with:
- Keeping good records of changes to your teeth over time.
- Explaining any issues or complications with your teeth, and how to prevent further damage.
- On-going monitoring of dental health.
Book a Check-up
We know it can be hard to make time for check-ups, but we’re here to help.
Let our friendly team know and we can find the best way to look after you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often do I need to get check-ups and Why?
Everyone is different. Our goal is to not let you get blindsided by dental problems. Generally, 6 monthly is recommended, but we may recommend longer if you’re particularly low-risk.
Do I need x-rays at every check-up?
In short, no – most people only need “bite-wing” x-rays every couple of years, to check for decay between teeth and under old fillings. Otherwise, we only take x-rays if there’s something specific we need to look at.
What do you look for at check-ups?
Check-ups aren’t just for your teeth – we also check your lymph nodes and chewing muscles, your jaw joints, your gums, cheeks, tongue, palate and tonsil areas, do an oral cancer screening and check your gum health.
In terms of your teeth, we check for decay, worn teeth, cracks, alignment, any signs of early damage that can be prevented from progressing with the right advice like overbrushing.
Then we have a chat to you to explain what we’ve found and how you can maintain great dental health.
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