What is preventive dentistry?
Preventive dentistry is the care that keeps teeth and gums healthy before anything needs repairing. Most of it is simple: a cleaning and an exam at regular intervals, a protective treatment or two where they help, and a routine at home that does the work between visits.
What it buys you is timing. A cavity found early is a small filling; found late, it can mean a root canal and a crown. Gum disease found early can be reversed; found late, it can be managed but not undone. Prevention is how problems get found early, while they are still small and simple to fix.
Cleanings and exams every six months
For most people, the center of prevention is a cleaning and exam every six months. The hygienist clears the tartar that brushing cannot shift, polishes the teeth and measures the gum around each tooth. The dentist then checks every tooth, your fillings and crowns, and your bite.
If you have been treated for gum disease, the visits come every 3 to 4 months instead. That is periodontal maintenance, and the shorter gap clears out the bacteria below the gum line before they build back up.
An oral cancer screening at every exam
Every exam here includes an oral cancer screening. It takes about a minute: a look at and a feel of the lips, tongue, cheeks, gums, the floor and roof of the mouth, the throat and the neck. There is nothing extra to book and nothing to prepare.
Early oral cancer often does not hurt, which is why the screening matters even when you feel fine. Between visits, show us any sore or patch in the mouth that has not healed in two weeks.
Sealants and fluoride
Two treatments add protection where it is needed most. Sealants coat the grooves on the chewing surfaces of the back teeth, where decay likes to start, with no drilling and no numbing. They are most often placed on children's permanent molars, soon after those teeth come in.
A fluoride varnish, painted on after a cleaning, helps harden the enamel against acid. Children benefit most, and adults benefit too when something raises the risk of decay, such as a dry mouth, receding gums or a history of frequent cavities. If either treatment would add little for you, we will say so.
What you do at home
The routine between visits decides most of what we find. Brush twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste and a soft brush angled toward the gum line, and clean between your teeth once a day with floss, small brushes or a water flosser, whichever you will actually use.
How often you eat matters too, not only what. Each snack or sweet drink gives the bacteria on your teeth fresh sugar to turn into acid, so a soda sipped all afternoon does more harm than the same soda with a meal. Oral hygiene done well covers technique, and at your cleaning the hygienist will show you any spot your brush keeps missing.
X-rays, when there is a reason for them
X-rays show what an exam cannot, such as decay between the teeth and the bone around the roots. They are taken when there is a reason for them, not as a routine at every visit, and digital sensors need a fraction of the exposure film did. Dental X-rays explains when and why.
Questions patients ask
How often should I see the dentist for preventive care?
Every six months suits most people. If you have been treated for gum disease, it is usually every 3 to 4 months. We set the interval for your mouth and tell you why.
My teeth feel fine. Do I still need a check-up?
Yes. Early decay and early gum disease rarely hurt, and tartar builds up even with good brushing. A cleaning and an exam are how those get caught while they are still small and simple to treat.
Do adults need sealants and fluoride?
Some do. Fluoride helps adults with a dry mouth, receding gums, a lot of fillings or frequent cavities. Sealants suit back teeth with deep grooves and no decay or fillings in their chewing surfaces. If neither would add much for you, we will tell you.
Does insurance cover preventive care?
Most dental plans treat cleanings and exams as preventive care and cover them more generously than other treatment, often twice a year. We file the claim for you. If you have no dental insurance, the Virginia Dental Club is a membership plan worth a look.
It has been years since my last visit. Where do I start?
With a phone call. If it has been longer than you would like to admit, that is the usual reason people call, and nobody here is going to make you feel bad about it. At the first visit you get an exam and a written plan, and nothing beyond a routine cleaning is started until you decide.