After lockdown is a great time for a thorough dental checkup

Thanks for your patience with Victorian government mandated restrictions on your dental care. Our receptionists are working hard to fit everyone in. We are really thankful with how cooperative everyone is with the changes back and forth! Many thanks!

Dental checkups are as critical for adults as for kids

When life is busy or going along without any 'hiccups' we can forget about both medical checkups and dental checkups. It is important to go to our GP and get them to check us for diabetes and high blood pressure because we cant tell if they are happening but we know early treatment is really important for our health.
Dental checkups form a similar function.
People can have serious gum disease, yet be totally unaware.
Dental decay can 'eat away' the middle of a tooth and yet you are unaware until it becomes an expensive and painful problem. Changes in medications or hormonal changes as we age can make us very susceptible to getting decay or gum disease.

That is why we recommend regular dental checkup visits. Even if you have not needed a filling for many years there are many things that can cause decay or gum disease without you being aware. 
If your gums ever bleed you may have gum disease slowly dissolving away the precious bone around your teeth. Did you know that, even though we might not tell you, when we check your mouth we scan for oral cancer?

Dental caries or Decay

One of the important things we look for in a dental checkup (examination) is dental caries or decay. This is caused by bacteria and usually occurs within the deeper parts of the tooth so we often don't feel it is happening until it has caused major damage. 
Because it can be inside the teeth we usually recommend x-rays so we can look inside the hard surfaces of your teeth.

Prevention of decay

• You feed the bacteria that causes decay when you eat sugar (including hidden sugars)
• You help the tooth re-heal itself with the fluoride in toothpaste or water or with products such as tooth mousse.
• You remove the bacteria, temporarily, when you clean your teeth. (and floss or use piksters)

We want to give you the very best chance of not needing our dental drilling by letting you know exactly what is happening.

Revised: 27 July 2021