Our team believes in preventive dentistry, and wants to offer kids and adults alike a way to avoid issues like tooth decay, teeth grinding, and even gum disease. To do so, we can conduct preventive treatments, from cleanings to providing custom oral appliances. In today’s blog, your Kansas City, MO, dentist talks about our preventive treatments.

Preventive Dentistry

We want to see you and your family once every six months. When you see us for these routine checkup and cleaning visits every few months, we have a chance to carefully examine your smile and catch possible problems in the early stages, often before you even experience painful symptoms. You should also see our team when you experience any negative changes to your oral health. When you have sensitivity in your teeth during meals or when drinking something cold or hot, this could mean weakened enamel or even tooth decay. Likewise, a toothache that doesn’t subside after a day or two requires attention. If you have pain in your gums or bleeding, also let us know as this could indicate gingivitis or even gum disease.

Checkups and Cleanings

We mentioned our checkups and cleanings briefly above, but these are essential for the oral health for kids and adults alike. With a checkup, we will talk to you about possible symptoms, your oral hygiene routine, and any habits that could weaken your oral health, such as consuming items with a lot of sugar or smoking. Our team then takes a close look at the teeth. Gums, and oral structures with digital x-rays and intraoral cameras so we can obtain instant high-definition images of your entire smile and help you on the path to a strong and healthy smile.

In the same visit, we also conduct a dental cleaning. This is also helpful for patients of all ages. With a cleaning, we will use an ultrasonic scaling device, which emits gentle vibrations to help remove the layers of plaque and tartar from your teeth. We also use a manual pick to help remove the more stubborn portions of tartar along the gum line. The cleaning takes only minutes and helps remove the buildup brushing and flossing alone cannot. This helps fight bad breath, teeth stains, cavities, and even periodontal issues.

Bruxism Treatment

Preventive dentistry can also help our team treat chronic teeth grinding, also known as bruxism. This can develop when people have high stress levels in their daily life, or due to imbalance caused by factors like TMJ disorder, misalignment, injury, tooth loss, or issues with the eruption of the teeth or growth of the jaw. For some, wisdom tooth eruption could be a factor too. When you grind and clench your teeth at night on a regular basis, this can break down and damage teeth, so your smile is vulnerable to negative changes to your appearance and even the onset of tooth decay and infection.

To avoid these changes, we can offer help with an oral appliance. Custom-made for your smile, this device will fit like a mouthguard and is worn while you sleep at night. The appliance repositions the jaw to ease underlying stress, and also puts a soft barrier between the sets of upper and lower teeth, which prevents further damage. We can repair any injuries with bonding or crowns too. The appliance is easy to use and clean, and it can travel with you too!

Warning signs of bruxism include toothaches, tooth sensitivity, headaches and migraines, jaw and facial pain, and aches in the neck and shoulders. Don’t ignore pain in and around your mouth, talk to our team about preventive dentistry right away!

Children’s Dentistry

With preventive dentistry, our team can also help kids enjoy better oral health too. We can provide checkups and cleanings for them just as we do for adults. But we also have treatments that help kids avoid the onset of tooth decay. For example, during their checkups we can apply fluoride to the teeth in a varnish form, which helps strengthen the outer enamel and lower the risk of tooth decay. We also have dental senates, which we apply to the rear molars that kids often have trouble reaching when they brush and floss each day. The sealants coat these teeth and prevent sugar and starch particles from being caught between the teeth, lowering the risk of tooth decay for years to come.

Schedule Your Preventive Visit With Delightful Dental Care

Our team wants to help your smile stay healthy and free of issues like tooth decay and even teeth grinding! To find out more about preventive dentistry, call Delightful Dental Care in Kansas City, MO at (816) 942-7669.