Dental Exam in Houston, TX

Great general health is supported by great oral health. Your well-being is enhanced when your teeth, gums, and jawbone are healthy. With a confident, healthy grin, you can eat, speak, and smile with greater ease and comfort. Annual dental exams at Made Ya Smile Spring Cypress can help support your smile, keeping your oral health in tip-top shape. Our dentist offers comprehensive dental examinations and performs a thorough assessment of your teeth, gums, jawbone, joints, and other oral structures to look for problem areas. Often, early diagnosis and treatment of dental problems can keep you from spending extra expense and time on more extensive care in the future.

We look for all kinds of issues during your dental exam and take your oral health very seriously. Regularly, we will scan for tooth decay, periodontal (gum) disease, bone loss, oral cancer, and TMJ disorders, and assess the relationship between your upper and lower teeth (bite). If you have any existing fillings, crowns, veneers, dentures, dental implants, or other restorations, we will check those carefully too to determine whether they are still working and in good condition.

It is our priority to offer compassionate, personalized care at Made Ya Smile. Our caring dentist takes time to listen to your concerns and develop a unique plan suited to your personal smile goals and needs. With the latest in technology on hand, our diagnostic tools like low-radiation 3D imaging and x-rays and high-definition intraoral photos, give us highly detailed information to help diagnose any existing problems. Not everything is visible during the clinical evaluation of your mouth, and these tools help us plan more accurately for your treatment. Let our experienced team provide you the care you need during your next dental exam. If you are in the Houston, TX area, we invite you to call us today to schedule your next visit.

To check for precancerous, cancerous, or abnormal lesions in and around your mouth, our expert staff will perform an oral cancer screening as a part of every annual exam. A serious concern, oral cancer affects over 50,000 Americans annually. We will look out for areas that are raised, rough, red, white, or unusually shaped and any nodules, lumps, or sores during your oral cancer screening. Areas of concern may exist anywhere in the mouth, so we carefully check the tongue, cheeks, lips, throat, hard and soft palates, the floor of the mouth, and gum tissues for any signs of irregularity. A biopsy may be necessary if any suspicious or abnormal lesions are found, or we may consult with an oral and maxillofacial surgeon to determine whether surgical removal or other types of care are required. All patients are encouraged to perform self-oral cancer screenings in between exams to look for any areas that are not normal, fail to heal, or look different than the surrounding tissue and tell us right away if there are any issues.

Typically, we perform dental exams for our patients during one of their biannual dental cleaning visits. Our dentist supports the American Dental Association's (ADA) recommendation that every child visits the dentist prior to turning one. During an examination, we will evaluate you for dental issues ranging from cavities, damaged or loose restorations, gum disease, bite problems, and jaw joint pain. High-definition x-rays and imaging help us screen you for bone loss, cavities between teeth, cysts, impacted teeth, and other hidden concerns that can damage your oral and overall health.

Regular dental exams, even if you are not experiencing any symptoms, are an important part of maintaining good oral health. It is possible to have gum disease or other oral health issues without any obvious symptoms. Some problems can cause serious health issues, and regular dental exams help us to catch these problems early in order to give you the necessary treatment. At your exam, we can help you work toward healthy, comfortable smiles and provide information about how to maintain great oral health through every stage of life. During your child's exam, we can talk about developmental stages and issues particular to kids, like baby bottle tooth decay, pacifiers, and thumbsucking.

As a part of every dental exam, our dentist will carefully go over your dental and medical histories and ask you to report any new medications or supplements that you are taking. Also important is information about any changes you have experienced in your oral health or symptoms you have noticed involving your teeth, gums, or jaw. We will use this information as we perform an oral cancer exam, and evaluate your jaw joint (temporomandibular joint) function and your bite (how your upper and lower teeth meet). Each tooth will be examined with an instrument known as an explorer as our dentist checks for signs of decay and the margins of any fillings, crowns, bridges, or other restorations that you have. As a part of your annual exam, we will also screen for periodontal (gum) disease. Using a small ruler, our dentist or dental hygienists will measure the spaces between your teeth and gums to scan for this condition.

Sometimes, digital x-rays may be included in your annual dental exam to help us see details about the health of oral structures that are not easily visible, like your tooth roots and jawbone. Tooth decay between teeth or under fillings and infections within teeth or the supporting bone structure can also become clear in an x-ray. X-rays are also an important diagnostic and treatment planning tool for gum disease, combined with periodontal measurements. Made Ya Smile Spring Cypress is committed to the safety and wellness of our patients, which is why we have invested in low-radiation digital technology for x-rays and only take x-rays as needed to reduce patient exposure. We also use small high-definition intraoral cameras when needed to help you visualize difficult-to-see areas in the mouth and provide you a better understanding of any of your treatment needs.

We will share our findings and customize a treatment plan for you after we complete your comprehensive exam. Our goal is to help treat your unique dental needs and goals to keep your smile healthy and confident.

Generally, dental exams will be completed during one of your bi-annual dental cleanings but may be needed more frequently, depending on your oral health needs. In some cases, dental cleaning and exam visits may be required at shorter intervals to help maintain optimal oral health. We will provide tips and tricks on how to best maintain your smile in between your appointments with brushing and flossing. Special care is taken to provide oral hygiene instructions based on the needs of each individual and may include additional information, advice, or tool recommendations for any areas that require more attention. At Made Ya Smile, we want to help all our Houston, TX patients enjoy beautiful, confident smiles and are proud to provide high-quality, individualized dental exams for your whole family.

We are happy to accept most major PPO dental plans and file your insurance claims for you. As a  preventive care service, dental exams are typically covered by dental insurance. If you are not using insurance or have out-of-pocket costs, we can work with you to find a convenient payment method. Made Ya Smile Spring Cypress accepts several payment methods, including our own in-house dental savings plan and third-party financing solutions.

For smiles that look and feel great, it is important to maintain regular, annual dental exams. Comprehensive dental examinations with our dentist at Made Ya Smile can help uncover problems early and decrease your risk of more expensive, complex care down the road. Whether or not you are experiencing symptoms, we recommend that all our patients keep up with their routine exams and cleaning visits, since some conditions may not be obvious until major damage has already occurred. Our family practice is proud to provide customized care for each of our Houston, TX patients, and we invite you to call us today to schedule your family's next round of dental examinations with our friendly, experienced team.