FAQs

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions from our patients to help you in your quest for good dental health.

FAQ #1 – What is the best kind of toothbrush?: Generally speaking, our dentist recommends a soft bristled toothbrush. Whether you use a manual toothbrush or an electric, anything harder than soft, is too hard. Stiff bristles may give you that clean feeling, but they can also abrade your teeth and cause gum recession. Sonicare

FAQ #2 – How do I use dental floss?: Floss is cheap, so don’t be stingy! Tear off about a forearms length to start. Wrap one end around the middle finger of one hand to “anchor” it, and pick up the other end about 4-6 inches away with the middle finger of the other hand. This allows you to manipulate the floss with your thumb and fore finger. As you soil a section of floss, “reel” in another 4-6 inches of clean floss with the anchor finger as you release the floss with the other finger. Once you get the floss past the tooth contact, move the floss up and down, perpendicular to the tooth. Never shoe-shine the teeth in a back and forth motion! You will either notch your teeth or cut your gums or both.!

FAQ #3 – How often should I get x-rays?: For most people, a complete radiographic survey should be done every 5 years, and a “check up” or “recall” set every 12 to 18 months. If you’re concerned about receiving too much radiation, a complete set of x-rays is the exposure to flying a commercial jet from San Francisco to Seattle, and with the new digital x-ray technology, the amount of radiation exposure is even less. X-Rays

FAQ #4 – Is the mercury in silver filling harmful?: The familiar “silver” or amalgam filling is probably the most researched and studied of all the dental materials. To date, there has never been any conclusive, or for that matter suggestive, scientific evidence that mercury amalgam filling poses a health risk. That is the official position of the American Dental association and the FDA. Replacing Old Fillings

FAQ #5 – What causes the most tooth decay?: Tooth decay is truly a disease of modern civilization. Prior to the invention of sucrose, or common table sugar, tooth decay was unknown! Although dentistry was practiced by many ancient cultures, tooth decay came about with the introduction of refined sugar. None of the naturally occurring dietary sugars causes decay, unless they are in the presence of sucrose.

FAQ #6 – How often should I get dental checkups?: For most people, a seeing a dentist for a checkup and cleaning every 6 months is standard protocol. Given that dental insurance companies agree, they generally will cover two cleaning and one recall exams with x-rays per year. Depending on a person’s dental health, however, a dental cleaning every 3-4 months may be recommended.

FAQ #7 – How Dental Insurance Works at Southtown Dental?: Every dental insurance plan is different. We want you to understand how dental insurance works and how to make it work best for you. As all dental insurance plans are different from employer to employer and what the insured person has signed up for it makes a little tricky to figure out what is going to be covered. That is why we can only offer and estimate on what the insurance will cover. The way this works is that we will do our best to determine what benefits you will have and based on what we determine we will come up with what the insurance will cover and what the patient will owe the office as an out-of-pocket expense.

FAQ #8 – What are the payment options?: We have some great financial options available for cosmetic and general dental procedures. We work with several different lenders that provide some very competitive options. We offer 12 months no interest and other plans with interest rates starting as low as 1.9% with approved credit.

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