Dental Cleanings & Prevention in Vancouver
At Orchards Dental, we are here to provide the essential care you and your family need to keep your smiles beautiful and healthy for many years to come. Dr. Joshua Williams and our team offer comprehensive dental prevention for children, teens, adults, and seniors alike.
We know just how vital routine cleanings and exams are for protecting smiles against concerns like gum disease and tooth decay. Our team provides preventive dental services that emphasize education in a friendly environment where all ages can feel safe and welcome. Our goal is to help you understand how healthy teeth and gums can contribute towards optimal wellness and overall quality of life.
We enjoy providing dental cleanings and preventive treatments in Vancouver and welcome patients from Orchards, Camas, and Salmon Creek. Contact our team to schedule your next visit today!
CALL US: (360) 892-2400 REQUEST APPOINTMENT
What is Considered Preventive Dental Care?
Dental prevention focuses on protecting and maintaining your smile and general health through various means. Dr. Williams offers a full range of services and procedures to keep teeth and gums looking, feeling, and functioning at their best. We can customize our treatments to meet the needs of children and adults alike. Care typically begins with an exam followed by a cleaning.
Our preventive treatments include, but are not limited to:
We also provide education regarding proper oral hygiene care, the impact of nutrition, certain lifestyle habits, and caring for your smile between visits. Our dentist and team deliver care using child-friendly language and relevant information tailored to every age.
How Often Do I Need a Preventive Dental Visit?
We recommend that you and your loved ones visit our office for routine dental cleanings and exams every six months. If concerns like gum disease run in your family or you have a history of the condition, our dentist will advise that you visit us more often. By doing so, our team can monitor your oral health more frequently and help keep the infection at bay.
Dental Prevention for Children
Our team begins caring for children by age one. We recommend parents and guardians bring in their young ones for a visit no later than their first birthday. The healthy development of your child’s smile paves the way for their dental health well into adulthood. We do everything we can to ensure you can enjoy healthy teeth and gums for life.
Our dentist provides gentle exams and regularly performs this service for young children as they remain in your lap. We make sure they feel comfortable and safe throughout the entire visit. Our team introduces them to the dental environment, our staff, and preventive care. Early on, taking these extra steps helps eliminate anxiety and fear, allowing us to build trust with your child.
We enjoy making regular dental care fun! Our team teaches children and parents alike about at-home hygiene for kids. When educating your child, we use kid-friendly language and models to show them the right ways to brush and floss.
Getting Started with Gentle Yet Thorough Exams
Dental exams are an essential aspect of preventive care. They provide us with a complete overview of your oral health. We begin by taking a series of x-rays once a year or more if needed. Our digital x-rays capture images of your teeth, gums, jaws, head, and neck.
These pictures allow our team to identify potential concerns otherwise unseen by the naked eye. We also use these images to help show you what our dentist is seeing, educating you about our findings along the way. From there, we examine every part of your smile. These include:
- Your teeth, checking for plaque and tartar buildup and signs of cavities, wear, and other concerns.
- Your gums, looking for symptoms of gum disease. These include bleeding, inflammation, noticeable pockets, or gum tissue recession.
- Soft tissues, examining your tongue and inner cheeks for lesions, cysts, tumors, and other warning signs of oral cancer.
- Your jaws, evaluating your chewing and biting function. We look for signs of potential issues like misalignment, bone loss, or TMJ disorders.
- Your head & neck, checking for abnormalities like lumps or swollen lymph nodes.
We typically ask questions about your lifestyle, diet, and medical health history to understand your needs better. Our team documents this information carefully and applies it to make excellent treatment recommendations and plan your services accordingly.
Oral Cancer Screenings
We perform visual oral cancer screenings with every visit. These assessments are essential for detecting warnings signs such as lesions, sores, cysts, and tumors. Our team believes in being proactive so that we can identify symptoms in their earliest stages.
Often, dentists and hygienists are the first professionals to spot potentially life-threatening concerns in the smile. As such, we can detect problems as they arise and refer you to a trusted oral surgeon for a biopsy the moment we notice any changes.
Professional Dental Cleanings in Vancouver
Dental cleanings, also known as prophylaxis, typically conclude your preventive visit. We perform routine cleanings with precision and a gentle touch. Our hygienists use special tools to remove plaque and tartar from your smile. They can easily adjust their technique to accommodate your children, spouse, parents, or grandparents.
We clean each tooth, removing plaque and debris from all surfaces, including the hard-to-reach areas that routine brushing and flossing cannot access. Our hygienists floss between teeth, informing you how to do so correctly at home. We complete your cleaning with polishing and rinsing with mouthwash, leaving your smile feeling clean and fresh.
We offer sealants for children and fluoride for all ages. We also provide preventive resin restoration treatment. This involves applying an enhanced sealant with minimally invasive techniques. With this procedure, we clean out tooth grooves and seal them with the solution to provide advanced protection against dental decay.
Protect Your Smile Today!
The goal of dental prevention is to protect against various concerns that can impact your oral health and general well-being at any age. With routine cleanings, exams, and education, our team can preserve the smiles of every family member for a lifetime.
Dr. Joshua Williams and our team proudly serve individuals and families across our Vancouver, Orchards, Camas, and Salmon Creek communities. Contact Orchards Dental to get started today!
CALL US: (360) 892-2400 REQUEST APPOINTMENT