What Is Considered General Dentistry?

A misconception surrounding general dentistry is that it could be rather limited in its scope of treatment. It does focus on a few aspects of dentistry, but these few are far-reaching and extremely important to our dental health. General dentistry primarily revolves around care regarding prevention, restoration, and dealing with dental discomfort. Learn about every way that our Indian Land, SC, dentist can help improve our smile by reaching out to our local professionals of Doby's Bridge Dentistry, Dr. Tiky Swain and Dr. Kimberly Anderson.

Preventive Care

Perhaps what is most commonly associated with general dentistry, preventive care plays a key role in helping us maintain a healthy smile. Brushing and flossing daily are the cornerstones of good dental health but for most of us, that is not enough to keep our teeth plaque-free. Plaque, and the bacteria that call it home, can harm our teeth and our gums if we don't keep it under control. Unattended, it could lead to gum disease and cavities.

Restorative Care

These same cavities can cause discomfort as we bite, and the infection that caused them will continue to weaken our teeth. So this is where dental fillings can help, with them our dentist is able to remove the softened and infected parts of our teeth and fill them back in to restore our bite.

But it's not only cavities that can damage our teeth, accidents can result in chipped and broken teeth. For these circumstances, our dentist can turn to dental bonding for minor restorations, and crowns for when teeth have lost a significant amount of structure.

Dental Discomfort

But when cavities go untreated for long enough, when preventive care could not stop them from appearing, when they were not treated early with a dental filling, the infection can reach the center of our tooth and cause severe pain. Trauma can also cause this to happen, even when there is no noticeable damage to the outside of the tooth, although the result is often the same.

Toothaches are why many of us find our way back into our dentist's office, and typically it's a root canal that will save our tooth and relieve us from the pain. It is also a dental crown that will usually protect our teeth after the root canal procedure.

General Dentistry in Indian Land, SC

These are just broad examples of the ways that through general dentistry our Indian Land, SC, dentist keeps our smile healthy. Schedule a consultation today with Dr. Swain and Dr. Anderson of Doby's Bridge Dentistry by dialing (803) 650-6323.