Dental Exams
Laurence Palmer DDS
Dental Exams near me? Yes!
A Dental Exam Near You
With a supreme dedication to taking care of your teeth, our Ogden practice is family-friendly and treats patients of all ages. From babies to children to seniors at all stages of life, we’ll look out for your oral health. With a gentle, expert manner, we use advanced technology and modern diagnostic tools to perform our comprehensive mouth and teeth evaluations. It’s important to us that all mouth exams done at Laurence Palmer, DDS Association are a pleasant experience for each and every patient.
When it comes to preventive health care, comprehensive mouth and teeth assessments are the optimal way to prevent future periodontal disease and tooth decay. Dr. Laurence Palmer will inspect for early signs of tooth decay, which are generally symptomless until decay gets bad enough to warrant a root canal or extraction. With kids, our pediatric mouth exams may detect unusual growth problems that could affect future oral health. Don’t wait — contact us today to reserve your comprehensive exam with our qualified, caring dentist, Dr. Laurence Palmer, in our Ogden office.
Ogden’s Most Comprehensive Dental Examination
What goes into a comprehensive dental examination?
In our Ogden office, we treat each patient as a valued individual. Dr. Laurence Palmer will meet with you and personalize your mouth assessment for your unique dental needs and health condition.
Your Case History: To start, we’ll inquire about your general health, as well as any teeth symptoms or visual complaints. General health conditions and medications that you may be taking currently are also relevant information to share with us as they can greatly affect the health of your teeth.
X-rays: Using diagnostic technology, we will take zoomed-in x-rays of your teeth, called bitewing x-rays, as well as a zoomed-out x-ray that includes all of your teeth in one picture, called a panoramic x-ray. Dr. Palmer will go over each x-ray that shows areas of concern with you, educating you on the areas of concern and how we will fix them, blown up on the computer screen in the operatory.
Intraoral pictures: Using state-of-the-art intraoral cameras, we can capture close-up pictures of your teeth of the areas of concern. Dr. Palmer will go over each intraoral picture, educating you on the areas of concern and how we will fix them, blown up on the computer screen in the operatory.
Other testing: We also have different testing devices to assess the health of individual teeth in a questionable state, such as a pulp tester, which uses an electrical current to test the vitality of a tooth, a diagnodent, which uses laser diode technology to assess the depth of the decay, cold tests, which detect if a tooth is in the process of dying or not, and percussion tests, which can detect cracks.
Following our complete dental evaluations, we will share our findings with you to discuss the most suitable treatment plan, giving you different treatment options.
When should you schedule your comprehensive dental exam?
Children:
- The first dental exam should be done after the first tooth erupted and no later than the child’s first birthday
- Each dental exam after the first one should be done every 6 months
- Dental cleaning should be done alongside the full dental exam
Adults:
- Each dental exam should be done every 6 months
- Dental cleaning should be done alongside the full dental exam
- If periodontal disease is present, more frequent cleanings may be required, but full dental exams will still be done every 6 months
In between exams:
- Brush your teeth twice a day with a fluoride toothpaste – we have a prescription fluoride toothpaste available in a prescription form that can be called into your pharmacy or available to buy straight from our Ogden office
- Clean between your teeth daily with floss or floss alternatives, such as soft picks or water picks
- Eat a healthy diet that limits sugary beverages and snacks
- Drink water with fluoride – especially important for children with adult teeth still developing
- Don’t use tobacco of any kind
- Avoid oral piercings
With exams:
- Ensure you are getting dental cleanings at the frequency suggested by the dental hygienist (either every 6 months, every 4 months, or every 3 months)
- Ensure you get an in-office fluoride treatment done at the end of each dental cleaning
