Dental Exam
Dentist in Lakewood, CO
 There is an age-old adage that says; there is always a first time for everything. Visiting a dentist for the first time can be exciting or frightening. Choosing the right dental office is important to the oral health of a person to prevent any foreseeable complications and assure a positive experience. That is where Northstar Dental comes into play.
What to Expect During a Dental Exam?
Expect your first consultation with us to be short and light. This is the time in which you need to make yourself feel comfortable in our dental office. Making yourself comfortable on your first visit will play an important role in your future appointments. You can expect us to go into detail about the essential steps of oral health care, good dental habits, and your medical history. We will do a basic oral examination, checking for tooth decay, reviewing all of your teeth and existing restorations and searching for any gum problems.
Going to the dentist is not something that people necessarily like to do, but once tooth problems arise, everyone regrets putting off coming to see our doctors. According to studies, about 40 million Americans avoid going to see the dentist due to nervousness. Also, research also finds that in the last four decades, dental anxiety has affected 29.2 percent of adults and 43 percent of children.
What are the Benefits of Regular Dental Exams
It is important to come see Northstar Dental for regular dental exams. This means coming in every six months for a dental cleaning and exam. Our dentist, Dr. Adler, will thoroughly clean and floss your teeth, removing any plaque or tartar that has built up. The dentist will check your teeth and gums for any signs of redness, inflammation, gum disease, bleeding, or any other abnormalities present. Regular dental cleanings and exams are very important in the fight against gum disease. Gum disease can be treated, and prevented, if caught early. A fluoride treatment will be given at the end of your exam.
 What You Can Expect From Us
While most oral healthcare professionals can make a broad guess on potential causes of your oral problems without an examination, we feel that it is always better to see what is going on before we hazard a guess. We will always answer any questions that you have and explain, in detail, what you can expect from treatment before any type of work is done.
Just like with any skilled profession, from mechanics to surgeons, the equipment being used is an essential part of the equation. We feel that using the latest, and the best, medical equipment is essential to providing exceptional quality dental care. We stay on top of all of the newest technology and techniques to ensure that we are providing all of our patients with the safest, most effective service to all of the treatments we offer, including:
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dental bonding
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Dental implants
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Dental inlays and onlays
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Composite fillings
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Root planing |
Intraoral Cameras
An intraoral camera, one of our newer devices, has changed the way we diagnose and treat certain oral health problems. Our primary use for an intraoral camera is diagnosis and digital impressions.
How Do Intraoral Cameras Work?
An intraoral camera is a wand-shaped handheld device that combines a high definition camera with a light source. The intraoral camera takes hundreds of pictures at a time, giving us detailed, enlarged images of your teeth and gums. With special software, these images can be transformed into a 3D impression of your mouth. This eliminates the need for goopy, messy, and uncomfortable impression materials.
An intraoral camera can be an important part of your surgical treatment planning. We may use the impression to digitally design your restoration, check for instances of tooth decay, and determine whether or not gum disease is present. We may also use an intraoral camera during dental implant treatment.
Benefits of Intraoral Cameras
The procedure is painless, easy, and quick. The intraoral camera does not cause any discomfort or side effects while helping us determine the status of your oral health. This is particularly important for oral surgery, as pre existing dental problems usually need to be addressed before we move forward with treatment.
You also get to see the images of your teeth and gums in real-time as we perform the scan. This can help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your oral health before your treatment. Your scan may even reveal certain areas that require special attention during your at-home oral hygiene routine to prevent future problems.
Digital X-Rays
Throughout dentistry’s history, one of the best tools for detecting oral health problems has been the traditional x-ray. Today, however, Northstar Dental is fortunate to have an even more powerful detection tool at our disposal: the digital x-ray.
What Are Digital X-rays?
Digital x-ray imaging utilizes digital sensors instead of traditional photographic x-ray film. This produces more enhanced computer images of things like tooth decay hiding between the teeth, under the gums, or even under caps or fillings. Digital x-rays can also better detect more serious oral health issues like abscesses, bone loss, tumors, and the early signs of oral cancer.
Digital x-rays are obtained using three methods: the direct, indirect, and the semi-indirect method. While the direct technique utilizes an electronic sensor in the mouth, the indirect method uses an x-ray film scanner for viewing traditional x-rays in digital form. The semi-direct technique combines a sensor and a scanner to convert x-rays into digital film.
What Are the Benefits of Digital X-rays?
One outstanding benefit of digital radiography over traditional x-rays is that the images can be viewed instantly and immediately manipulated to enhance detail and contrast. They can also be transmitted electronically to other specialists within our office or elsewhere, without sacrificing the quality of the images.
Digital imaging is also more eco-friendly than conventional x-ray imaging, eliminating the disposal of lead foil and other hazardous wastes because there is no chemical processing. Furthermore, the digital sensors and photostimulable phosphor (PSP) plates are much more sensitive to radiation and require up to 80% less radiation than film.
Possibly the best benefit of all is that digital radiography increases our chances of detecting oral health issues early on, saving time, money, and discomfort. Special features of digital imaging that make early diagnosis possible include, contrasting, sharpness, 3D, zoom, and flip. Once appropriately enhanced, these images can be shown to patients immediately to better educate them about their specific issues.
Are you due for a dental exam? Has it been awhile since you’ve been in to see the dentist, or are you ready for your six month check up? Contact Northstar Dental at (303) 481-3901 to schedule your next dental exam. |
