General Dentistry 

You need to have both! Both brushing and flossing at home are essential for maintaining oral health. They help minimize the buildup of harmful substances like bacterial plaque. However, it’s impossible to remove all plaque from your teeth by yourself completely. When plaque accumulates, your teeth and gums become vulnerable to decay and disease. This is where professional dental services come in. Our dental cleanings, or prophylaxis, remove the plaque that your toothbrush and floss cannot eliminate—particularly the plaque that has hardened into tartar. This stubborn tartar requires the expertise of a trained professional and special scaling instruments for effective removal.

Everything! Dr. Ponnaganti assesses the state and condition of your teeth, gums, and the supportive tissues of the mouth, jaw, and face. These supportive tissues include the jawbone and jaw joints. For example, she looks for early signs of enamel erosion and gum inflammation, which are major precursors to cavities and gum disease. By detecting and then addressing these problems in their earliest stages, you avoid the pain and trauma associated with such damage to the teeth and gums. You also avoid the expense and treatment time associated with procedures to resolve more advanced decay and periodontal/gum disease.

Your mouth is not just the teeth and gums. Problems with how the joint functions can result in chronic pain when opening your mouth or eating and may even lead to migraines and other issues that extend beyond the oral cavity. Such temporomandibular (TM) joint disorders may be rooted in problems that require treatment, such as chronic teeth grinding, which manifests as chips and excessive wear and tear to the teeth and dental work. Assessing the health of the bone in the jaw also helps us to identify the presence of and to “stage” the extent of advanced gum disease. All of these supportive structures and tissues play important roles in your smile’s health, function, and appearance.

Your mouth is not separate from the rest of your body. There are many connections between bacteria and inflammation in the mouth and damage to other organs and systems of the body. It’s thought, for instance, that the bacteria implicated in periodontitis can travel to the blood vessels, increasing your risk of developing conditions like heart infections or endocarditis. Due to the mouth/body connection, we also like to ask about any changes in your overall health at every checkup. The health of your body and the presence of other diseases, like diabetes, can affect and be affected by your oral health.