Preventive Dentistry
At Pristine Dental in New York City, we help provide you with the resources and services you need to maintain good oral health and overall wellbeing. Preventive dentistry is the key to keeping your teeth healthy and strong throughout your life and avoiding dental problems later.
What is Preventive Dental Care?
Preventive dentistry helps maintain your teeth clean and cavity-free by a combination of consistent dental check-ups and cleanings along with good at-home oral hygiene habits, such as daily brushing and flossing your teeth. Preventive dentistry starts early in childhood and extends throughout your life in order to prevent cavities, gum disease, bone loss, enamel wear, and more.
Why is Preventive Dentistry Important?
Preventive dentistry is imperative because maintaining good oral health can lead to early diagnosis of dental problems, saving you time and money. Conservative treatment can be done when early diagnosis and intervention is properly performed.
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Staying up to date with regular biannual dental check-ups and other preventive dentistry services can help reduce chronic medical conditions that can be correlated to dental problems. Diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, eating disorders, and some cancers can all affect oral health.
All new patients receive a comprehensive dental exam of not only your teeth, but also your full oral cavity, head and neck. This includes evaluations of the soft and hard tissues, bone health, TMJ and muscles of the jaw and neck. An oral cancer screening is also performed on all patients annually.
Your Role in Preventive Dentistry
Preventive dentistry often starts with the patient and begins in childhood. By developing proper and healthy dental habits early on, you can reduce and prevent cavities, gum disease (gingivitis) and other oral health conditions. Listed below are some ways that you can take action in your preventive dental health.
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Develop a strong oral hygiene routine, including brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing once a day at minimum.
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Use non-acidic mouthwash after flossing and brushing.
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Avoid sugary and acidic foods that can harm and erode your teeth’s enamel.
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Avoid smoking and using tobacco products, which can lead to cancer, bone loss, teeth staining and other oral health conditions.
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Use a mouth guard for specific sports and if you grind your teeth at night.
Preventive Dentistry ​Services
Teeth Cleanings: Regular teeth cleaning is essential to preventive dental care to keep your teeth stain-free and your gums healthy. Performing a routine dental cleaning every six months is the recommended recall for most patients. However, patients with a faster plaque and tartar buildup causing gingivitis and periodontitis (with deep gum pockets) are recommended to come every three or four months, depending on the plaque level and gum health. Our dentist will consult on how often prophylaxis or a teeth cleaning is recommended to maintain excellent oral health and a healthy smile. Learn more.
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Digital Radiographs: Digital radiography is a form of X-ray imaging that utilizes X-ray sensors to produce a high-quality, enhanced computer image of your mouth, allowing us to assess your oral structures and conditions further and provide accurate diagnoses and recommendations for dental care. These radiographs are quick, safe, and convenient, helping the dentist see more than just cavities and teeth. Digital dental radiography is very low in radiation levels and completely safe, and we place a heavy apron on our patients before taking x-rays for extra protection. On average, your body is exposed to 3.1 millisieverts (mSv) of natural radiation alone per year. At .005 mSv, the radiation you receive from the aforementioned dental x-ray is less than 1.6% of your daily background radiation exposure. You are exposed to the same level of radiation just from sunlight each day.
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Comprehensive Exams: Our comprehensive dental exams are detailed and will extensively examine each aspect of your teeth, gum, bone health, and all hard and soft tissues for oral pathology, including an oral cancer screening. Biannual checkup exams will help the patient reduce major dental work in the future by catching potential complications early on and providing conservative and preventive treatment.
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Oral Cancer Screening: Oral cancer screenings are an essential step integrated as part of our comprehensive exams. All new patients will get oral cancer screenings which play a significant role in preventive dentistry and oral health to look for undetected or abnormal pathology. During an oral cancer screening, we will examine the inside of your mouth – including all hard and soft tissues, tongue, back of the throat, and palate for abnormal signs or lesions. The neck and throat are also palpated to detect signs of any lumps and pathology. Radiographs also serve as a crucial diagnostic tool during an oral cancer screening.
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Fluoride Treatment: Fluoride treatments will strengthen the enamel and protect your teeth against damage caused by acid from bacteria and food, foreign abrasives like hard toothbrush and rough toothpastes, plaque and tartar. Fluoride treatment uses a highly concentrated varnish of natural fluoride mineral that can help prevent or slow down the tooth damage and decay from getting worse by aiding in tooth remineralization.
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Sealants: Dental sealants are a thin, protective layer that seals the deep pits and grooves and serve as a crucial part of a comprehensive caries management approach. This coating is painted on the chewing surfaces of the teeth, including the premolars and molars where the pits and fissures are more prominent, protecting the areas from capturing food and plaque and eventually tooth decay. Sealants are commonly delivered on children when the adult teeth first grow in and act as an early barrier to cavity-prone areas. Adults can significantly benefit from sealants as well, along with fluoride varnish provided at each recall visit.
425 Madison Avenue
Suite 1800
(49th St. & Madison Ave.)
New York, NY 10017