Love Your Smile… for Life

Caring for Your Oral Health in Blue Island, Illinois

Regular oral health checkups and cleanings are essential to long-term oral health. By attending annual (or twice-annual) appointments, you not only help ensure a lifetime of beautiful smiles for you and your family, but you can also save a significant amount of money in preventing otherwise-unnecessary restorative procedures.

Has it been a while since your last checkup? Call Bright Smile Family Dental to schedule a cleaning and oral health exam in Blue Island, Illinois. Your future smile will thank you!

How Often Should I Visit the Dentist?

In most cases, the dentist will recommend twice-annual checkups and cleanings. Although, patients with impeccable oral health can sometimes get by visiting once per year. By attending regular visits with your dentist, tooth decay and other issues can be detected in their earliest, most treatable stages.

The dentist at Bright Smile Family Dental will recommend a checkup and cleaning schedule based on your personal oral and general health, as well as your age and other factors. If you have periodontal disease or other condition, the dentist may recommend a more frequent checkup schedule.

What to Expect at a Typical Checkup

While there will be some variance in terms of your individualized treatment plan, you can most likely expect some of the following during your oral health exam and cleaning:

• Time with dentist and hygienist. During a typical checkup, you can expect to spend time with both the dentist and hygienist. The hygienist will perform a preliminary examination of your teeth and gums and then document their findings for the dentist. The dentist will then perform their own examination and diagnosis, which will then be used to guide your treatment plan.
• Scaling and cleaning. While brushing and flossing at home is a great help in limiting plaques and biofilms, only the professional tools and training of your dental team can remove tartar (calculus) and thoroughly clean your teeth. (Tartar is a hardened plaque that cannot be removed with home-based methods.) To remove tartar, your hygienist will use either a manual or ultrasonic scaler. They will also clean below the gumline using a root planer, a tool similar to a dental scaler, but is specialized for use in cleaning the area of the tooth below the gumline.
• Periodontal charting. You have wondered what the hygienist is doing when they probe your gums and read out a series of numbers. This type of examination is known as periodontal charting. What the hygienist is looking for is the probing pocket depth (PPD) and bleeding on probing (BoP), which could indicate periodontal disease. They will also look for signs of pus production (suppuration), which could indicate a localized infection. The numbers the hygienist reads off indicate the level of inflammation; the higher the number, the more inflammation may be present.
• X-ray examination. While visual examinations allow the dentist to diagnose issues on the surfaces of teeth, only through X-ray and CBCT scans can we detect issues below the gums, inside the tooth, and around the jawbone. These types of scans are critically important as most cavities occur between teeth and below the gums (these are also the areas that can be helped with regular flossing).
• Polishing. Once your teeth have been examined and cleaned, the next step is to polish the tooth surfaces. While this process does help remove surface stains, which can help improve your smile’s appearance, the main purpose is to smooth the surface of the tooth so that it is easier to clean when brushing and flossing. The tool used for this procedure is known as a prophy cup. The polishing compound contains mildly abrasive compounds and fluoride, which work together to smooth and protect the tooth.

Before You Leave...

Before you leave, the dentist or hygienist will share recommendations for you to follow at home. They will also recommend a date to schedule your next checkup and cleaning.

Schedule a Checkup and Cleaning

Ready to schedule your next checkup and cleaning? Call Bright Smile Family Dental for checkups, cleanings, and preventive care in Blue island and Chicagoland.