Stay on top of your oral health with a dental check-up in Far Headingley

How healthy do your teeth and gums feel to you? Do you have any concerns about the functionality of your teeth? We will ask you to identify any symptoms such as sensitivity, toothache or simply if something doesn’t feel or look right to you. Your answers will help us develop a personal dental assessment framework.

You will be asked to complete a simple medical history questionnaire the first time you visit. This is important as there are many medical conditions and medications taken that can affect your oral health and the provision of any dental treatment. At each subsequent visit your medical history will be checked and any changes updated.

Lifestyle factors such as drinking alcohol, smoking, diet and stress can also affect your dental health. We discuss a number of these lifestyle factors with you and how they affect your mouth and dental health and give you any relevant advice.

Is there anything that you are unhappy with the appearance of your teeth?
This might be as simple as staining or discolorations or more complex such as missing, broken or crooked teeth. We will discuss options with you to improve the appearance of your teeth.

We monitor the progress from one dental check up to the next and recommend regular Oral Health Assessments so that we can evaluate and discuss any changes in your mouth with you.

This is a physical examination where we look at all your teeth individually and assess how healthy each tooth is. We note any teeth that appear unhealthy and then investigate further. We may use digital intra-oral cameras and show the images on our chairside monitors so that you too can see around your mouth.

This is a separate check where we assess the health, stability and durability of any previous dental restorations (fillings, crowns, implants, veneers etc).

The presence of plaque and tartar is an indication of poor dental health and may lead to tooth decay and gum disease. We point out soft plaque deposits on your teeth as well as hard tartar and discuss ways to eliminate them with you.

This check comprises an extensive head and neck examination as well as looking inside your mouth. We feel under your chin, around your neck and shoulders for lumps, bumps and any asymmetries. A careful visual inspection of all your soft tissues within the mouth is carried out and includes looking at your tongue, lips, cheeks, hard and soft palate, the floor of your mouth, gums and skin for any issues. We then give you full feedback and will discuss any findings and any necessary action required with you.

We check the movement of your jaw and the opening of your mouth and record any deviations from what we would expect and investigate accordingly.

Here we look at the way you bring your teeth together and signs of unusual wear on your teeth i.e. due to grinding, clenching or habits such as nail-biting and we discuss our findings with you.

We take radiographs (X-rays) to check the health of areas inside, around and between your teeth, and to check the health of your bone levels. Radiographs help us identify if decay (caries) is present which we cannot always spot by just looking in the mouth, for example between teeth, and under crowns or fillings. We look at past radiographs so we can compare them and discuss our findings with you. We have chair mounted monitors to help display X-rays so that we can easily show you the results.