What you should expect from your dental visits:

On your initial visit your dental team will have some sort of medical paperwork to fill out. It is important that you list any medical conditions, medications and allergies on this form. There are major conditions, allergies and medications we look for before you even walk in the door. The biggest things I look for are the following:

• Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
• Diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2)
• Artificial Joints (knee, hip or anywhere else)
• Artificial Heart Valves
• Auto-Immune Disorders (RA, Sjogrens, Lupus, IBD)
• Cancer
• Kidney Disease
• Liver Disease

These are important because they effect your dental treatment and how your dental team will provide your care. If you have anything artificial in your body, you may require a pre-medication prior to dental care, including your cleaning. A medical clearance to your physician may be needed to see that you do not infect your artificial joint/valve.

There are also certain medications that can contribute to your oral health. A lot of medications can cause xerostomia (dry mouth), which can contribute to your risk of oral manifestations. Certain classifications of popular blood pressure medications can cause gingival hyperplasia. This causes your gums to become enlarged and harbor more bacteria. So it is important we have your list of medications and allergies.

After your medical information has been reviewed, the dental team will take your blood pressure, this is not to annoy you. In fact, your blood pressure is very important! It not only gives us a picture of your general health, but many procedures we perform in our office require anesthetic. Local anesthetics, including Lidocaine, contain epinephrine. Epinephrine is a vasoconstrictor, meaning it reduces blood flow in the area we want to work in, increasing your overall blood pressure. Although it is slight, if your blood pressure is already high it can cause a big problem!! So, next time you get annoyed we are taking your blood pressure, just remember we are trying NOT to kill you! 

I'm sorry! I try as hard as possible to make this experience as gentle as possible. There is a reason we do this each year. I promise, it is for you.

In the image in this section you will see an instrument. This is called a periodontal probe. The hygienist uses this instrument to measure the space between your tooth and the gum, this is called the pocket. You will hear about your pockets at every visit. It's best to understand what they are. Each periodontal probe has a set of markings on it. These measurements indicate one millimeter (mm). A healthy gum pocket is between 1 and 3 mm. If the gums are inflamed (gingivitis), the pocket will read 4 mm. This is a warning that your gums are unhappy. If the probe reads a measurement 5 to 6 mm this is active periodontal disease, it is best to catch periodontal disease during this stage. If a probe reading is beyond 6 mm, there may be a serious periodontal infection that requires a specialist. A periodontist, is a dental specialist that treats moderate to severe periodontal disease, surgical intervention may be necessary at this point.

If during your initial visit, or annual assessment, your pockets are getting deeper a deep cleaning may be needed. Hygienist and dentists routinely recommended scaling and root planing (SRP), a non-surgical treatment, used to remove plaque (biofilm) and calculus (tarter build-up).

Remember -- this is very important -- bacteria causes periodontal disease. Period. Repeat: bacteria (found in plaque biofilm) causes periodontal disease and the destruction of your periodontium (supporting structures). Bacteria in conjunction with host response determines disease progression.