Over the past decade, “occlusion” has emerged as an important component of dentistry. In fact, many dentists now consider healthy occlusion to be as important to the maintenance of dental health as preventing tooth decay and/or gum disease. Some dentists even believe that occlusion should serve as the underlying base for all dental treatment in general.
Along with regular examinations and professional cleaning, periodic dental x-rays are typically a standard of care in the maintenance of your oral health. Primarily used to diagnose potential problems within a tooth or below the gumline, dentists also use x-rays as a proactive monitoring tool to track any changes that occur in your teeth and gums over time. In fact, the x-ray’s ability to discern potential problems that cannot be seen by visual inspection makes it one of the most beneficial diagnostic tools in dentistry. While technology makes today’s dental x-rays seem like a relatively recent high tech invention, you might be surprised to learn that x-ray technology has been around for 105 years and that several dentists and physicists from around the world took the first dental x-rays within weeks of each other in 1896.
Everyone knows that having your teeth professionally cleaned at the dentist’s office is a regular part of life. But have you ever wondered—perhaps while reclined in that dental chair—exactly what the dental hygienist or dentist might be doing during the different steps in the cleaning process?