Hello Fall, Goodbye Insurance Benefits.

We recommend that everyone schedule a professional tooth cleaning appointment at least once every six months. When you eat sugary or starchy foods, dental plaque naturally builds up inside your mouth. It coats your teeth and wedges itself in very hard-to-reach places. Over time, plaque hardens into tartar, which you can’t remove with a toothbrush or floss. Tartar leads to cavities, gingivitis, and other, more severe dental problems.

Professional dental cleanings remove any tartar that’s built up inside your mouth. We use scalers and other devices to reach areas that are difficult for you to clean effectively. We’ll also identify ways you could clean and care for your teeth better. Almost all dental benefit programs cover periodic dental cleanings.

Dental exams are important for ensuring long term dental health. During exams, your dentist checks your teeth, gums, and mouth. We look for cavities, gum recession, diseases, and other signs of tooth damage. Regular dental exams are the best way to find potential dental problems before they become serious. We recommend everyone schedule a dental exam every six months.

Most dentists take x-rays every other exam, or once a year. X-rays are very important to allow our dentists to see parts of your teeth, jaw, and mouth, signs of potential problems that are not visible to the naked eye. Using x-rays allow us to compare a patient’s x-rays over time to see how these potential problems develop. X-rays help dentists get a much more complete picture of your overall dental health and history.

 Fillings are one of the most common procedures dentists perform. Cavities form when tooth decay creates a hole in the enamel of a tooth. They expose the vulnerable, inner dentin of the tooth to further decay, disease, or structural damage. Fillings treat cavities by literally filling them in, restoring the tooth’s original, complete structure. Fillings not only correct cavities, they also prevent further damage.

Fillings are generally covered by dental benefit plans. Dentists place fillings in a single appointment, which usually only lasts 30 minutes to one hour and no pain. Filling in cavities while they’re small is very important, because if you leave cavities alone they only grow worse. By fixing the problem now, you’re preventing several bigger dental problems later. All the more reason to use those benefits!

Dental crowns are a common procedure that is done to treat a variety of tooth problems. Crowns are prosthetic “caps” that fit over a damaged tooth in order to restore its shape and function. Dentists use crowns to repair or hold together cracked or broken teeth, replace badly chipped enamel, and more. Crowns protect damaged teeth by encasing the remaining portion of the tooth above the gum line. They’re the easiest and least intrusive way to restore a very damaged tooth back to functionality.

Like the other procedures on this list, crowns can often prevent the need for more extensive treatment. If you need a crown, it usually means your tooth has been structurally compromised in some way (sometimes crowns are also installed for cosmetic reasons.) Unless you do something to address the damage, the tooth can only get worse. Eventually, you may seriously and permanently damage your tooth. Many dental benefit plans cover crowns as important and necessary procedures.