A cleaning and checkup every six months is the cheapest dentistry you will ever buy. Almost everything expensive in this building started as something small that nobody caught. At Dentistry For You in Broken Arrow, a routine visit covers a professional cleaning, a full exam, X-rays where they are due, and an oral cancer screening.
A hygienist does most of the work. They remove plaque and the hardened tartar that a toothbrush cannot shift, particularly along the gum line and between the back teeth, then polish the enamel and floss through every contact. If your gums bleed during this, that is information rather than a telling-off: bleeding is the early sign of gum inflammation and it is reversible at that stage.
The dentist then examines each tooth, checks existing fillings and crowns, looks at how your bite meets, and examines the soft tissue of your mouth, tongue and throat. That last part is the oral cancer screening. It is non-invasive, takes a couple of minutes, and is included in every checkup rather than charged as an extra.
X-rays show what an eye cannot: decay between teeth, infection at a root tip, bone loss, and the position of teeth that have not come through yet. How often you need them depends on your own risk rather than a fixed schedule. A patient with no decay in a decade needs them far less often than someone with several new cavities in a year.
We use digital X-rays, which need a much lower dose than the film systems many people remember, and the image appears on a screen immediately so we can turn it round and show you what we are describing.
The chewing surfaces of back teeth have deep grooves that a toothbrush bristle is physically too wide to reach into. A sealant is a thin coating painted into those grooves so food and bacteria cannot settle there. It takes a few minutes per tooth, involves no drilling and no numbing, and is most useful on children’s permanent molars soon after they come through.
Adults with deep grooves and a history of decay can have them too.
Fluoride makes enamel harder to dissolve and can rebuild the very earliest stages of decay before a filling is needed. A professional fluoride treatment at the end of a cleaning is more concentrated than toothpaste and is worth having if you get cavities easily, have gum recession exposing root surfaces, wear braces, or have a dry mouth from medication.
Gum disease is the most common reason adults lose teeth, and in its early stages it does not hurt. That is what makes it dangerous. The first signs are bleeding when you brush, gums that look puffy or have pulled back, and breath that does not improve.
Caught early, it usually reverses with a normal cleaning and better technique at home. Once it has gone further, a standard cleaning is no longer the right treatment. Scaling and root planing, which most people call a deep cleaning, cleans the root surfaces below the gum line and smooths them so the gum can reattach. It is usually done over more than one appointment, often with the mouth numbed, and it is followed by more frequent maintenance cleanings for a while.
Two cleanings a year is roughly one hour out of about eight thousand waking hours. What happens in the other seven thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine decides most of the outcome.
Brush twice a day for two minutes with fluoride toothpaste, and clean between your teeth daily with floss or interdental brushes, because the surfaces where decay usually starts are exactly the ones a brush never touches. Cut down on how often you have sugar rather than only how much: sipping a sweet drink through an afternoon does more damage than eating a dessert in ten minutes.
If you are already a patient, we will tell you when you are due rather than leaving you to remember. If it has been years, that is fine and common, and the appointment starts from where you actually are.
Call (918) 355-1391 or send the contact form.
Every six months suits most people. If you have gum disease, get cavities easily, smoke, or have a condition such as diabetes that affects the gums, three or four month intervals are often better. We will tell you which applies to you rather than applying one rule to everybody.
A routine cleaning should not hurt. You will feel scraping and vibration, and sensitivity is common if your gums are inflamed or your roots are exposed. Tell the hygienist and they can work more gently or numb the area. A deep cleaning below the gum line is usually done with the area numbed.
Bleeding gums almost always mean inflammation from plaque sitting along the gum line, not that you are brushing too hard. The instinct is to brush that area less, which makes it worse. In the early stage it usually clears up within a couple of weeks of proper daily cleaning between the teeth. If it carries on, have it looked at.
No. X-rays are taken based on your own risk, not on a fixed timetable. A patient with no recent decay needs them far less often than someone with several new cavities. Digital X-rays use a much lower dose than older film systems.
They are most useful on children’s permanent molars soon after those teeth come through, because that is when the deep grooves are most vulnerable. Adults with deep grooves and a history of decay can have them too.
Call the front desk or send the form and we will find you a time.