What to Expect from a Dental Cleaning

When you arrive for your dental cleaning, we’ll welcome you to our dental office. If it’s your first time, we’ll greet you and ensure you’ve completed the proper paperwork. Otherwise, we’ll take you right back to your appointment—we work hard to keep to our schedule and rarely run behind. 

The first step in your cleaning is typically a thorough scaling to remove tartar. Tartar is a hardened form of plaque. It absorbs minerals from your saliva to become rock-hard, so you can’t remove it with normal brushing and flossing at home. Tartar forms yellowish or brownish deposits on your teeth, which can look unattractive. And tartar isn’t just unattractive; it can harbor harmful bacteria, contributing to your risk for cavities and gum disease. 

Once we remove the tartar, we polish your teeth to create a smooth surface that is less susceptible to bacterial attachment. This not only helps protect your teeth from cavities and gum disease, but it also helps them shine, so your smile will look bright and beautiful. 

The final step is flossing, just like you should do at home every day, but done by our expert hygienist to ensure your teeth are thoroughly clean. 

While cleaning your teeth, our dental hygienist will evaluate the effectiveness of your home dental care routine. They’ll note where you have excessive tartar and might have the beginnings of cavities. If they notice patterns, they can provide tips and advice to help you do a better job cleaning your teeth at home.

What to Expect from a Routine Dental Exam

Once your teeth are cleaned, our dentist will perform a comprehensive oral health exam. These regular visits are critical for detecting potential problems early, significantly reducing the risk of cavities and gum disease, and maintaining a vibrant smile​​.

It’s important to get regular dental x-rays. These help us detect problems that aren’t visible to the naked eye. Our digital X-rays use a fraction of the radiation of old film X-rays. They also let us throw the image up on a screen so you can see what we see in your teeth. We typically recommend X-rays every year, but depending on how stable your oral health is, we might not need them that frequently. We might also recommend X-rays to help evaluate specific problems we detected. 

If we detect problems with your oral health, such as gum disease or cavities, we will schedule another appointment for a filling or laser gum disease treatment. 

If everything looks good with visual inspection and x-rays, we will proceed with cancer screening. We utilize VELscope oral cancer screening. We will shine a special light in your mouth and look at the results through a filter. This will cause potentially dangerous lesions (sores) to glow a certain way so we can identify them for more detailed screening.

Benefits of Regular Dental Cleanings & Exams

There are many good reasons to keep up your schedule of regular dental cleanings and exams. With these appointments, you will:

  • Keep your smile looking attractive
  • Protect yourself from dental problems
  • Detect problems when they’re easy and inexpensive to treat
  • Reduce risks associated with general health conditions

Clean teeth are attractive teeth. Professional cleanings can remove superficial stains and help keep your teeth smooth so they have a bright and shiny luster. Plus, they will remove unsightly tartar that develops in the areas you aren’t cleaning thoroughly enough, typically near the gum line. 

Tartar shelters oral bacteria. When you have large tartar deposits on your teeth, bacterial populations can swell there, contributing to cavities and gum disease. Keeping your teeth clean can head off these problems. 

Even if you develop cavities or gum disease, regular dental cleanings and checkups let us detect them when they’re easy to deal with. Often, we detect them early enough that your only treatment is making minor changes to your home hygiene routine.

In addition, regular dental cleanings can reduce your risk of health problems associated with poor oral health. For example, regular dental checkups can reduce your risks linked to heart disease and diabetes. Some studies show that regular dental checkups can reduce your risk of hospitalization related to coronary artery disease or diabetes. By reducing your risks from these conditions, dental checkups can save you hundreds of dollars a year in treatment costs, more than enough to pay for the cleanings.

Ready for a Regular Dental Cleaning in Southlake

Are you overdue for your regular dental cleaning in Southlake? Don’t wait—schedule your appointment today. Please call (817) 587-4566 or use our online form to request an appointment at StarImage Dental Boutique & Oral Surgery in Southlake.