Dental Cleanings & Exams in Duxbury, MA
Center for Progressive Dentistry is a general dental practice catering to all your dental needs. Although we offer many services to fix damaged and decayed teeth, we hope you never need these services. Maintaining great oral hygiene home care, along with regular dental visits for cleanings, x-rays, and examinations, is the best way to keep your mouth happy and healthy.
When you become a patient at our practice, you will receive top quality routine dental care. Depending on the condition of your teeth and gums, we will recommend regular visits every 3 to 6 months.
During each visit, you will receive a thorough cleaning by our skilled and gentle hygienist, Julie Harrington. She will leave your teeth feeling great and offer all the oral hygiene tips you need to have great checkups every time.
Will I Get an Exam by the Doctor as Well?
Yes! Every time you visit our practice for a cleaning, one of our dentists will complete an oral exam. Dr. Scardella will make sure your teeth and gums are healthy and clean. They will examine carefully any radiographs taken during the appointment. If anything needs immediate attention, a treatment plan will be discussed and your next appointment will be scheduled to complete any necessary dental work.
How Often Do I Need X-Rays?
This is a great question that comes up often. Everyone is concerned about the amount of radiation we are receiving and so are we at Center for Progressive Dentistry. We follow the ALARA principle for exposing our patients to radiation, which stands for As Low As Reasonably Achievable. We use digital radiographs, both intraoral and panoramic to diagnose dental disease. Digitally taken x-rays give up to 90% less exposure to radiation than conventional x-rays.
The condition of your mouth, along with your home care practices, medical history, history of dental work, and dietary habits all factor into the frequency and type of dental x-rays you receive.
Those patients with a history of dental decay and multiple fillings, crowns, or extractions may need x-rays more often (every 6 to 12 months). Those with a low risk of dental decay may only receive x-rays every 1 to 2 years. We will only take as many x-rays as we need to accurately diagnose and treat any dental issue.
Read Dr. Scardella's blog article about radiation in the dental office here.
Prevention Is Key!
As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This statement holds true in dentistry as well. We have amazing ways to restore your dental health, but nothing is as good as maintaining what Mother Nature gave you. It is much easier and cheaper to prevent dental disease than to treat it.
Unfortunately, many people avoid the dentist on a regular basis, thinking that if nothing hurts or is broken than they are healthy. Often, by the time something is noticeable to you, it has become a bigger problem than it needed to be.
In general, the more complex a dental treatment, the more expensive it can be to fix. Often, the best treatment options are also the most expensive. In an effort to save money on cleanings, exams, and x-rays, a small, inexpensive problem has now become a large, expensive one.
Luckily, we are here to help! Please contact our Duxbury, MA, office if you are overdue for a dental cleaning and exam and we will get you back on track to great oral health.
