Exams & Cleanings in Kearney, NE

Along with brushing and flossing your teeth daily, our dentist at Platte Valley Dental Clinic recommends patients schedule a visit every six months for routine exams and cleanings in Kearney, NE. These visits allow them to find cracks, chips, tooth decay, gum disease, and tartar buildup before these dental issues become critical.

What Happens During Examinations?

During a routine dental examination, our dentist may take x-rays to check if your teeth are growing correctly beneath the gumline. They will examine the tops and sides of teeth for damage, cavities, and the mouth for signs of disease. Along with a visual examination, our dentist near you may use their gloved fingers to check for hard lumps or growths in the mouth and along the neck.

Along with tooth decay or gum disease, a dentist can discover signs of oral and throat cancers during routine exams. Our dentist searches for these cancers to find them as early as possible because it gives patients a better chance of surviving them.

During the first stage of oral cancer, the disease has an approximately 85 percent survival rate. However, if not found until cancer spreads within areas of the mouth, the survival rate drops to about 67 percent.

Discovering Medical Conditions

During exams and cleanings near you, Dr. Eric Ahrens can spot signs of medical conditions that you may not know about. These conditions can include:

• Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Kidney disease
• Leukemia
• Pancreatic cancer
• Osteoporosis

The symptoms of some diseases develop in the mouth. For instance, a patient may have bad breath and gums that bleed, indicating diabetes. Bone loss is often seen in dental x-rays first, and pain in the jaw may indicate an oncoming heart attack.

Cleanings as a Preventive

After examining your mouth, Dr. Eric Ahrens will clean your teeth to remove plaque and tartar adhering to them. While plaque is easily brushed away by a toothbrush, it cannot remove tartar, so it’s up to our dentist in Kearney, NE to remove it. Removing plaque and tartar reduces cavities and the damage they can cause.

If you haven’t had regular exams and cleanings of your teeth for a while, contact our dentist to set up an appointment for them at Platte Valley Dental Clinic.