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Preventative Care: Make It A Habit!

Ignore your teeth, and they’ll go away! Preventive care is a priority at Fairfield Dental Associates. Regular exams and hygiene visits, and consistent at-home care help keep a healthy smile for years to come.

Regular Checkups – Routine dental exams every six months are the best way to safeguard your oral health, and save time, money, and discomfort in the future. Every check-up includes an evaluation of your teeth and gums and soft-tissue screening for signs of oral cancer or other abnormalities. If you’re not sure when your next check-up should be, call us today.

Patient Education – We take the time to educate our patients on appropriate oral care – through this website, our patient-education pamphlets, and personal interaction with our staff – and to involve them in the decision-making process.

Hygiene/Cleaning – In addition to providing direct care to our patients, our Registered Dental Hygienist offers invaluable advice for maintaining your teeth and gums at home. She works closely with the dentist to ensure that any potential problems she encounters are identified and managed before they can become a threat to your oral health and/or general health. Left untreated, bacteria found in dental plaque and tartar can cause tooth decay, gum disease, tooth loss, and can play a role in heart disease and your overall health.

Soft-Tissue Management Program – Decay-free teeth are only one piece of total oral health; healthy gums are just as important. If the disease has progressed, a special periodontal cleaning called scaling and root planing (deep cleaning) will be recommended. In addition, we will recommend an antibiotic systemically or locally (under the gum). This procedure helps gum tissue to heal and pockets to shrink. Medications, special medicated mouth rinses, and an electric tooth brush may be recommended to help control infection and healing.

Breath Treatment – Even with meticulous hygiene, bad breath (“halitosis”) may still persist among some patients. To help, Fairfield Dental Associates can perform in-office procedures like tongue scraping to clean away bacteria build-up. We also offer Oxyfresh at-home alcohol-free rinses and breath treatment systems which freshen breath while enhancing soft tissue health.

Dental Sealants – A true breakthrough in the fight against tooth decay, dental sealants are applied to chewing surfaces (on the back teeth) to shut out food particles and protect against future decay. Sealants are applied in a quick, comfortable procedure that takes just one office visit but provides protection for many years.

Free Oral Cancer Screening – Our staff’s trained eyes are not just focused on your teeth, but also your lips, cheeks, tongue, and palate. Regular screenings – part of every regular patient check-up – help us to identify soft-tissue abnormalities that may be cancerous. Early detection means early treatment and better, more predictable results.

Nightguards – Do you grind or clench in your sleep? Such unconscious nighttime activity can result in headaches, premature wear on your teeth, and tooth pain. A custom nightguard can help you break the habit.

TMJ Screening – Do you have frequent headaches just under the opening to your ear? Does your jaw pop or click, or do you have sharp pain when you open your mouth? Do you experience muscle spasms in the neck, back, or shoulders? You may have temporomandibular joint disorder. Your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the hinge mechanism that connects the lower jaw to the base of the skull. Grinding,

Snoring Cures – Snoring can be a real problem, not just for the noisy sleeper but for others in the house as well. Snoring happens when the muscles and soft tissues in the throat and mouth relax during sleep, blocking the opening of the airway, causing soft tissues in the mouth and throat to vibrate. If snoring is a problem we can create a custom oral device – called a snore guard – to help (delete previous sentence). We prescribe a Snoreguard, a custom-fit appliance found to be 95% effective in the treatment of snoring.

Mouthguards – Experts recommend mouthguards for children and adults who participate in recreational activity that may cause an injury to the mouth. Mouthguards cushion blows that could result in broken teeth or injury to the lips, tongue, face or jaw. Call Fairfield Dental Associates to get fitted for a custom mouthguard today.