New Patients - Parsipanny Dental Care

The purpose of this visit is:

For you to talk to the doctor and express your needs and/or concerns
To do a thorough analysis of your oral health by utilizing:

Dental x-rays
Visual exam
If necessary, models of your mouth--no additional charge
Intra-oral camera pictures (in the mouth, using our wand camera)--no additional charge
Extra-oral pictures of your smile, if necessary--no additional charge

If you're unable to read PDF files, you can download Acrobat Reader free from Adobe.

Dental X-Rays
Patients often wonder about the reason we require x-rays, their frequency, and why there are different types.

The visual exam--using our eyes--gives us half the picture of your dental condition. The reasons we take x-rays include:

To look for hidden cavities (infections).
To determine the amount of bone health or disease.
To determine the presence of dental abscesses.
To determine the presence of cysts.
To determine the condition of root canal treatment.
To determine the presence of impacted teeth.
To determine the health of the sinuses.
To determine the presence of tumors.
To determine whether or not a child's mouth is growing properly.
To determine the condition of any dental restorations-fillings and crowns.
To determine if you are a candidate for implants.
To locate a fistula.
To determine the presence of foreign bodies.
To locate hidden calculus.
To determine root fractures.

Video examination
The usual way to examine the mouth for cavities was the explorer (you know it as that "picking" instrument). While it is still useful, it is not very accurate. It actually misses more decay than it finds.

We deal in microscopic details in dental health. Visualization is of utmost importance. The openings between teeth and fillings are so small that they are nearly invisible and the dental explorer cannot pick them up. The tip of the explorer is larger than these openings. Dental x-rays are not the answer either-old metal fillings block them out.

The most predictable method to discover these openings, gaps, and breakdowns is to magnify the size of the tooth. From this magnification, we can see gray shadows next to the filling (a sign of decay is that the joint between the tooth and filling is open). We can also see the size of the gap--there are 10 million bacteria in the area of the explorer tip!!! Imagine what happens in that small gap!!!