Preventative dental care is the cornerstone for a beautiful smile! At-home brushing and flossing, professional cleanings, and dental checkups in Half Moon Bay help prevent tooth decay and expensive procedures. Dr. Riley and Dr. Gabby will monitor your oral health and help you keep your healthy smile.
As part of our preventative dental care at Half Moon Bay Family Dentistry, we offer fluoride treatment to help strengthen tooth enamel and reduce the risk of developing cavities.
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Our pediatric dental care includes routine checkups, cleanings, and preventative care, as well as treatment for common dental issues like cavities and gum disease.
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For both routine dental visits and dental procedures, we offer sedation options to help our patients relax during their treatment.
Scheduling a professional dental cleaning with your Half Moon Bay Dentist helps you maintain a strong, healthy smile. We recommend our patients schedule a routine cleaning every six months. During this appointment, you’ll see our dental hygienist as well as the doctor.
The primary purpose of teeth cleaning by a hygienist is to prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and other oral health issues. To do this, any staining, plaque, or bacteria accumulated since your last visit will be removed at this appointment.
Your hygienist uses a scaler to remove residue from your teeth and gums. Sometimes, a special instrument that uses high-frequency vibrations is needed to loosen debris and remove large deposits. This instrument is called an ultrasonic scaler.
Once the plaque and tartar are removed, your hygienist will use a polishing tool and paste to make your teeth sparkle and follow up by flossing in between to ensure every surface is clean.
Dr. Riley and Dr. Gabby use dental exams and X-rays to locate minor problems in your mouth before they become more significant. The bigger problems are more expensive to repair and can cause serious oral health conditions in the long run.
When you visit us for a dental exam, we'll look inside your mouth and the adjacent structures, like the tissues of your face and neck. This helps us identify signs of infection or other abnormal bumps and swollen areas.
Any existing restorations you have, such as fillings or crowns, will be checked to ensure they remain intact. If they are cracked or chipped, we may recommend replacing them to prevent decay from forming under the filling or crown.
An oral cancer screening is completed during your routine dental exam. Dr. Riley or Dr. Gabby will check your neck, face, lips, and other oral tissues for signs of oral cancer. We practice caring family dentistry, so we leave no stone unturned to ensure your oral health is at its best.
Dental radiographs (X-rays) are a vital part of our complete family dentistry practice. These images provide valuable information that we can't see during a routine exam. Without dental X-rays, the following conditions may go unnoticed:
Using dental X-rays to detect and treat problems early can save our patients time, discomfort, and money!
Dental X-rays produce a very low amount of radiation and are considered safe. But we use caution to limit our patients’ exposure to radiation. Precautions we use include lead apron shields that protect the body and digital X-rays that reduce the exposure time of each image.
How often you need dental X-rays depends on your unique oral health needs. We will recommend X-rays on a specific schedule based on your medical and dental history, risk for disease, oral health symptoms, and age.
Visit us to see a dentist in Half Moon Bay who utilizes Cone Beam CT 3D imaging to see every angle of your mouth for a more thorough diagnosis.
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