It Has Been Years

The initial oral examination starts with a conversation about your health history, your medications, and what brought you in, even if the answer is simply that it has been a while. Then comes the exam itself, followed by digital x-rays. Two checks set this exam apart. Dr. Bhoompalli looks at your occlusion, how your upper and lower teeth meet, because a bite that is off wears teeth and strains the jaw. She also looks at your airway, since a restricted airway is often behind grinding, poor sleep, and headaches. Both are often overlooked. For new patients, the exam and x-rays are $99, and most dental plans cover them as preventive care.

Once the exam is done, dental cleanings and exams become the rhythm that keeps small problems small. A cleaning takes about an hour. The hygienist scales plaque and hardened tartar from every tooth surface and along the gumline, polishes away surface stains, and flosses whatever is left. Dr. Bhoompalli finishes with an exam of each tooth, your gums, your bite, and the soft tissue of your mouth. After years away there is usually more buildup to remove, so the first cleaning can run a little longer. Most patients then settle into a visit every six months, and most are surprised how quickly they are back on that schedule.

If the exam finds gum disease, the answer depends on how far it has gone. Gums that bleed from inflammation are often reversed with a routine cleaning and better brushing at home. When tartar has worked below the gumline and the pockets around the teeth have deepened, a routine cleaning cannot reach it. That calls for a deep cleaning, called scaling and root planing, done with numbing in sections over more than one visit. A cavity means a filling. When there is more than one thing to do, Dr. Bhoompalli sequences the plan by urgency, explains what happens if you wait, and quotes each step before you commit.