Maintaining Your Beautiful Smile
At Premier Novi Dentistry, our Novi dentist truly values practicing preventive dentistry and helping patients maintain their beautiful smiles and oral health. Our practice provides the highest quality comprehensive services so you can avoid more complex dental issues and treatments down the road. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure – please contact us to book your biannual dental checkup or schedule online today!
The Importance of Preventive Dentistry
Staying on top of your oral health is one of the best things you can do for your smile. While brushing and flossing are essential daily oral health habits, Dr. Bhatia recommends scheduling regular checkups and cleanings to keep your smile in pristine condition.
We take the time to show our patients how to properly care for their smiles outside of their biannual visits. Our preventive dentistry services keep things like cavities and gum disease at bay, so you can enjoy all the benefits of healthy teeth and gums.
Teeth Cleanings, Exams, and X-Rays
The American Dental Association recommends that patients go to the dentist for regular teeth cleanings and exams once every six months or at least twice a year. If you feel like your teeth are in great shape, checkups are still necessary. They allow us to thoroughly clean your teeth and catch any potential problems while they’re still small.
Even if you brush and floss your teeth twice a day, you may still have plaque buildup due to hard-to-reach areas in your mouth. Our dental hygienists make sure that every tooth is plaque-free and squeaky clean. After your cleaning, Dr. Bhatia will look over your x-ray imaging and visually examine your teeth for any signs of decay or other dental problems.
Fluoride Treatments
Over time, tooth enamel (the outer protective layer of the tooth) can demineralize and weaken. Fluoride can actually remineralize and strengthen tooth enamel and prevent those unwanted cavities. Our fluoride treatments are often applied using a fun-flavored foam in a tray or brushed on the teeth. Either way, the treatment is quick, simple, and gives lasting protection.
Dental Sealants
You may notice that you have grooves and crevices on the chewing surface of your molars, which is normal. However, if bacteria and food debris collect in these areas, it can lead to potential cavities and tooth decay. At your checkup, we’ll examine your teeth for any large grooves. If we find any, we’ll use a fast-drying, long-lasting dental sealant to completely cover it and prevent buildup.
Dental sealants are clear, plastic coatings that we can quickly brush over an area and they dry almost instantly. They’re a quick way to add another layer of protection to your pearly whites.
Oral Cancer Screenings
An oral cancer screening is a visual exam that our Novi dentist, Dr. Bhatia, performs during your biannual dental checkups. He will take a look at your cheeks, throat, neck, and face to see if there are any abnormalities. The goal is to identify oral cancer early on, which leads to better chances of a cure. If you have any questions about oral cancer screenings, please contact our Novi office and we’d be happy to speak with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Regular appointments for checkups and dental cleanings typically take around 30 minutes to one hour. While teeth cleaning is a very important part of this appointment, it’s not the only part – we also perform preventive checks to make sure your oral health is in optimal shape.
One of these checks involves taking x-rays of your teeth. Sometimes, decay isn’t visible and doesn’t cause pain, but it can be picked up through x-rays. Finding these areas of decay before they develop further allows us to treat them quickly. You’ll likely only need one set of x-rays per year.
Your teeth and mouth will also be visually and physically examined to check for cavities, periodontal disease, and oral cancer. All of the treatments for these diseases benefit from early detection.
Yes, teeth cleanings are necessary. You may brush and floss your teeth regularly, but even the best of us can miss those hard-to-reach areas in the mouth. During your professional cleaning, we’re able to remove hardened plaque, also called tartar, which is more difficult to remove and often can’t be done at home. We’ll make sure your teeth are smooth, sparking, and healthy when we’re done cleaning.
Preventive dentistry is the modern way of helping you keep your smile and oral health in great shape. By utilizing preventive dentistry, we’re able to prevent unwanted disease as well as catch problems early on, allowing for less invasive treatments in the future.
Call Premier Novi Dentistry Your Dental Home
Here at Premier Novi Dentistry, we want all of our patients to have a smile they feel good about. To learn more about our preventive dentistry services, get in touch. Call our Novi office at (248) 348-8808 and one of our team members will be happy to assist you.