Can I Treat a Cavity on My Own?
Cavities are a common cause of toothaches. When pain flares up, you might be tempted to treat the cavity yourself. In this blog, we discuss whether you should and provide tips for easing toothache pain at home.
Say you’re at your dentist’s office for a routine checkup, and it’s time to gather some images of your mouth — dental X-rays. You may wonder if taking these images is really necessary, especially if you feel fine and have no pain or other symptoms.
The fact is: dental images reveal vital information about what’s going on inside your teeth and under your gums.
Dr. Wayne Hofflich and the caring Smile Boutique team are eager to meet all your dental needs, whether you’re in the market for a routine exam, a root canal, or a cosmetic dental solution, like veneers. Interestingly, neatly all dental procedures have one thing in common — the need for dental X-rays.
Think of dental X-rays as the starting point from which Dr. Hofflich creates a customized treatment plan for you. Aside from visually and manually examining your teeth and mouth carefully, reviewing dental images allows him to see the critical goings-on that aren’t visible to the naked eye, such as:
In addition to these issues, imaging provides important information if we’re preparing to place a dental implant, braces, or dentures.
X-rays also assist Dr. Hofflich if you experience a dental emergency, like a broken tooth, swelling, or bleeding in your mouth. X-rays can also help to solve a mystery, like finding the source of dental pain.
Previously, dental images were put on film, but as time and technology progressed, state-of-the-art digital imaging was developed. This high-tech method offers several advantages:
Instead of needing to wait for film images to develop, digital images are ready and viewable immediately. With digital X-rays, your image file is sent immediately to your electronic file in our office.
When we take your X-ray digitally, it can be made visible on a screen in our office so you can consult with Dr. Hofflich about them right away, or we can print them out so you can take them with you.
This also makes it easier for your dentist to send your X-rays to another dentist for consultation purposes if necessary, or for the images to be sent to your new dentist should you relocate, for example.
When viewing a digital X-ray image on a screen in our office, Dr. Hofflich can magnify the image or highlight aspects of it while explaining a problem to you or discussing your treatment plan.
A feature called subtraction radiography allows Dr. Hofflich to actually view a current and past image together, and remove all areas of the image that are unchanged. Only the differing parts of the X-rays remain, so he can see even subtle differences in your mouth as compared to earlier points in time.
Dr. Hofflich can also take an image of just one portion of your mouth, rather than your entire mouth.
Digital dental X-rays expose you to less radiation than traditional ones, which is good, because over the course of a lifetime, the less radiation exposure you have, the better.
Digital dental X-rays don’t cost as much as conventional ones at this point, so your pocketbook doesn’t take as big a hit.
Digital images have more clarity, which helps Dr. Hofflich make a more accurate diagnosis and, in turn, a more relevant treatment plan.
Dr. Hofflich decides how often you should get digital X-rays, depending on your oral health and if any unexpected discomfort or problems emerge. The fact that we can take digital X-rays right here in our office and interpret them promptly, means that your dental care is more streamlined, accurate, and comfortable.
Learn more about our digital X-ray capabilities by calling the Smile Boutique office to schedule an appointment, or simply book one online.
