Welcome to our dental clinic in Edmonton. We are proud that you chose our staff and clinic to support your lifelong dental health. Here are the five steps you can expect to accomplish during your first clinic appointment.
Step One — Creating Your Patient Record
The first step in creating the patient-dentist relationship at our dental clinic in Edmonton is to create your patient record; Our staff will ask for your personal information and contact information to enter into our communication, scheduling, and practice management systems.
Even more important than that, we will ask you to complete a questionnaire to give us information about your oral health and past medical and dental history. We will use this information to inform our first teeth examinations and guide our conversations about your goals and needs. This is also the perfect opportunity to tell us about any past experience with or allergies to medications or painkillers and any dental anxiety we should consider.
Step Two — X-rays
Dentists in Edmonton use X-rays to obtain images of your jaw, gums, and teeth. Those X-rays help our staff to understand your current oral health, investigate any symptoms you may be experiencing, and to plan your treatment.
During your first appointment, we will take X-rays to give us the information we need to identify and fix cavities, respond to tooth decay, and anticipate the complications of impacted wisdom teeth. If you are pregnant or may be pregnant, advise our staff. In that case, exposure to radiation in digital X-rays isn’t appropriate without foreknowledge and additional precautions if necessary.
Step Three — An Examination
The third step of your first appointment will be carefully examining your teeth, bite, and gums. In addition, our dentist will examine your tongue and the inside of your mouth for any signs of oral cancer. You will also be introduced to VELscope Screening for oral cancer.
This initial examination aims to understand the current state of your oral health and develop a treatment plan to address any dental issues you’ve been experiencing. During this first and any examination, be sure to tell our dentist about any symptoms you’ve been experiencing in your mouth, jaw, neck, and head. Dental issues can contribute to symptoms beyond your mouth and relate to sleep or awake bruxism (grinding teeth), obstructive sleep apnea, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD). During examinations, we will ask questions to screen you for TMD issues.
Step Four — Professional Teeth Cleaning
At your first appointment, our staff will clean your teeth to remove plaque and tartar from your teeth and gums. Biannual cleanings on an ongoing basis are an essential step to prevent or address tooth decay, gingivitis, and periodontitis. A thorough cleaning at your first appointment will get our relationship off to the best possible start and give us the best possible look at the condition of your teeth and gums.
If professional teeth cleaning is new to you, rest assured that it’s a pain-free process, though some people find the vibration and sensations slightly odd. Let us know if you have any concerns about this or any process. Cleaning will take approximately 45 minutes.
Step Five — Scheduling
By the conclusion of your first appointment, we will have developed a treatment plan to address any symptoms or issues that may have been discovered in your first appointment. If cavities are to be filled, that will be scheduled. We’ll also introduce you to our process for scheduling regular dental check-ups and cleanings once every six months.
We look forward to introducing you to our full range of services, answering all your questions and helping you meet all your goals — preventative, restorative, cosmetic, and more. If you have any questions about your first appointment that we have not answered here, get in touch with our dental clinic in Edmonton and let us answer every one of them.