You don’t make an appointment specifically to see your dental hygienist, she doesn’t have her own office or a staff of assistants, but don’t underestimate her capabilities. She does a lot more than clean your teeth.
A dental hygienist is trained to assess the condition of your teeth and gums so that your dentist will have a starting off place from which to make his diagnosis. The hygienist is the one who will take the x-rays that are so important to see underlying problems in the bone structure or identify tooth decay that can’t be seen by the naked eye.
Most people experience some degree of nervousness about seeing the dentist. The hygienist acts as a kind of buffer. She’s the one who eases the patient into the environment so that by the time he sees the dentist he is relaxed and ready for the exam.
Your dentist is on a tight schedule. He relies on his hygienist to gather the necessary preliminary information form the patients and listen to the symptoms that they may have. It may take some prodding to get a patient to concede that he has been feeling any discomfort for fear that he will need treatment. That may sound unusual but it is often the case. A dental hygienist will know how to draw this patient out and get to the heart of the matter.
The hygienists at Southlands Dental in Aurora have had years of experience and are dedicated to making their patients feel at ease in the dental environment. Call the office @ 720-886-0606.
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