Choosing the right dentist near you can help you maintain good oral health and avoid complications like gum disease. These professionals offer services ranging from basic wellness checks to repairing cracked or damaged teeth. They also perform cosmetic procedures such as tooth whitening and dental dentistry near me implants.

It’s common for candidates to have experiences that span different health professions. They should highlight these experiences in their resumes and personal statements.

Preventive care

Keeping your teeth healthy is not just good for your smile, but also for your overall health. Regular dental visits can help prevent gum disease, tooth decay and other oral problems. They can also identify early signs of cancer and other health conditions.

Choosing a dentist is not always easy, but there are many ways to find the right one. You can search online for dentists who accept your insurance, and you can ask friends and family for recommendations.

A reputable dental clinic will have a dedicated staff and high patient satisfaction ratings. This will ensure that your teeth are in the best hands and you will receive quality care.

Checkups

Checkups are typically done by dentists and dental hygienists, who have special training in caring for teeth and gums. They will check the patient’s mouth for signs of oral cancer, gum disease, and other problems. They may also take the patient’s blood pressure.

Even the most fastidious of patients might neglect to clean hard-to-reach places in their mouth, so regular checkups are important to ensuring that any problems are caught as early as possible. This can avoid the need for invasive treatments and prevent health issues from getting worse.

Fillings

Tooth fillings are used to repair cavities, cracks, chips and other damage. They can prevent tooth decay and help patients avoid dental surgery in the future.

Your dentist will start the procedure by applying anesthesia to numb the area. Then they will use a drill to remove the decayed part of your tooth. The dentist will then isolate the area and prepare it for the filling material.

The dentist can choose to use composite resin or porcelain to make the tooth look natural. They can also use silver amalgam fillings if the patient prefers them.

Prophylaxis

A thorough dental exam and professional teeth cleaning help prevent tooth decay, gingivitis, halitosis and other oral health problems. They also remove excess plaque, tartar and bacteria that harbor and breed infections in the mouth.

These infections cause periodontitis and gingivitis. They irritate the gums and lead to pockets that engulf and destroy gum tissue. This can eventually make the teeth fall out or require more extensive treatment.

A prophylaxis cleans the teeth above and below the gum line to remove these bacteria. It can be done during a regular dental appointment or under general anesthesia.

Root canals

While root canals have a bad reputation, they are actually quite painless. They’re also a lot better than having a tooth pulled. Throbbing pain in a tooth usually means there is an infection in the dental pulp and if ignored, it could cause a serious abscess.

During a root canal, we use local anesthetic to numb the area around the affected tooth. We then make an access hole in the tooth, isolate it with a sheet of rubber (called a “dentist dam”) to keep out saliva that contains bacteria, and remove the dead pulp tissue.

Implants

Dental implants are metal fixtures that are surgically fastened to the jawbone and onto which artificial teeth can be mounted. These are usually made from titanium and fuse to the bone through a process called osseointegration. Implants can improve your appearance, speech, and chewing ability. They also can help prevent adjacent teeth from shifting or falling out.

Before an implant is placed, the oral surgeon needs to make sure that there is enough bone at the site to support it. This is accomplished by visually examining the surgical site and reviewing dental imaging studies.

Cosmetic dentistry

A cosmetic dentist differs from a general dentist in that they provide services for enhancing the appearance of teeth and the smile. While they have the same training as a general dentist and can fill cavities, they focus on aesthetics rather than health. They also use dental bonding, veneers, and crowns to enhance your smile’s appearance.

Cosmetic dentistry procedures are not restorative, but they help repair your teeth to improve the overall look of your smile. These include whitening, veneers, bonding, and porcelain crowns. The procedure is usually done in one appointment.