Dental Exam & Diagnosis Ellicott City, MD

Dental Exams

Dental exams are an essential part of keeping your teeth and gums healthy. The dentist and/or hygienist looks for cavities, bleeding gums and gum disease, and anything else out of the ordinary in your mouth. In addition to a visual check of your mouth, the dentist will take x-rays to check the health of your teeth under the gum line and look for cavities he/she cannot see with the naked eye. 

Digital X-rays

As part of most dental exams, x-rays are taken. This is especially true if you are a new patient in a clinic that you have not been seen in before. Modern technology takes x-rays up a notch via digital x-rays, which quickly upload the x-ray pictures to a computer or tablet. 

Digital x-rays eliminate the need to wait for x-rays to develop on x-ray sheets. The digital versions are also clearer and easier to read and do not require a scan and upload into the computer to place the images in a patient's file. Almost all dentists and dental practices now use the digital method of x-raying a patient's teeth and mouth during an initial or annual dental exam.

Comprehensive Oral Exams

Not only is the oral exam a dental exam, but also a full diagnostic procedure. This may be suggested by your dentist if something looks really out of the ordinary in your mouth. For example, teeth that look like they have been ground down and shouldn't be may be the result of excess stomach acid, bruxism, a misalignment of the jaw, TMJ, etc.. Your dentist wants to do a full oral exam to analyze findings and see the real cause. 

Comprehensive oral exams include everything from a complete medical history to x-rays to sending samples and swabs to a lab for sores or strange tissue growths. It is a complete dental exam and then some, where the "then some" is needed. The dentist will only recommend and approve exam components he or she feels are warranted. 

If the components of the exam are not needed, those components will be skipped. Additionally, if anything is not covered by your dental insurance, your dentist will inform you of the procedures or services not covered while providing you with enough information to make an informed decision about what to do next. Then you can make a choice as to what services you want to proceed with and are able to pay for out of pocket.