What is Involved in a Detailed and Extensive Exam?
If you know about our Comprehensive Exam, you’ll know how thoroughly and extensively we examine our patients at Modern Family Dentists as standard procedure. But when we need to take things a step further, such as assessing a patient for a major dental procedure, we will conduct a Detailed and Extensive Exam. This is required for certain procedures such as dental implants, and allows us to fully determine exactly what is required when developing a personalized treatment plan for such procedures.
What is a Detailed and Extensive Exam?
It is exactly as the name suggests – it’s a much more in-depth, extensive and detailed examination of your oral health. It involves many additional diagnostic procedures and tests such as X-rays to help us build a bigger picture of the condition we are examining. This allows us to analyze each relevant aspect of your oral health to determine the best course of action for your procedure.
What conditions are a Detailed and Extensive Exam used for?
We conduct this exam for a variety of reasons, for example:
- If we find anything unusual or in need of extra attention during your Comprehensive Exam.
- When you request to undergo a major procedure, such as dental implants.
More specifically, the types of conditions that would require this type of extensive evaluation include:
- Dentofacial anomalies – conditions where the structure of the mouth or jaw prevents them from functioning as they should.
- Complicated perio-prosthetic conditions – complex conditions relating to the gums.
- Complex temporomandibular dysfunction – conditions where the muscles that connect the jaw to the skull are not functioning correctly.
- Facial pain of unknown origin – when pain in the face is experienced without any clear or obvious cause.
- Conditions requiring multi-disciplinary consultation – certain conditions that require input from dental specialists and other medical practitioners.
What is involved in a Detailed and Extensive Examination?
As you can imagine, this type of evaluation is incredibly thorough – much more so than the Comprehensive Exam, which is especially detailed as it is. If anything noteworthy was discovered during your Comprehensive Exam, we will describe and document the condition in great detail before we conduct your Detailed and Extensive Examination.
Here’s what’s involved in the exam itself, and what’s included:
Image Capture
We need to capture images of various part of your face, jaw and mouth to get a detailed view of each area. These images are not captured by the dentist who will be analyzing, interpreting and reporting on them, and could include:
- Cone beam CT image capture with limited field of view – less than one whole jaw
- Cone beam CT image capture with field of view of one full dental arch – mandible
- Cone beam CT image capture with field of view of one full dental arch – maxilla, with or without cranium
- Cone beam CT image capture with field of view of both jaws, with or without cranium
- Cone beam CT image capture for TMJ series including two or more exposures
Once the appropriate images have been captured, we then move on to the next stage:
Interpretation and Reporting of Images
Each diagnostic image that was captured by a practitioner not associated with the treatment stage is interpreted in great detail. The findings are then compiled into a highly detailed report.
Post-Processing of Image or Image Sets
We use the captured images to perform a simulation treatment, so we know how successful the procedure will be when it is performed. This stage includes:
- Treatment simulation using 3D image volume – we use 3D image volumes for simulation of treatment which includes, but is not limited to:
- Dental implant placement
- Orthognathic (jaw correction) surgery
- Orthodontic tooth movement
– Digital subtraction of two or more images or image volumes of the same modality – this is to demonstrate and determine that changes have occurred over time
– Fusion of two or more 3D image volumes of one or more modalities
Then, we conduct several tests:
Tests and Examinations
We conduct a number of in-depth tests and examinations to help us determine the best course of action for your procedure, which could includes the following:
– Caries susceptibility tests – these are bacterial tests to assess your risk for developing caries (tooth decay).
– Adjunctive pre-diagnostic tests – expand
– Pulp vitality tests – to determine the condition of the tooth pulp.
– Diagnostic casts – also known as diagnostic models or study models, this is used to show the relationship of the teeth and surrounding tissues (gums).
– Non-ionizing diagnostic procedure – this helps us to identify, measure, monitor and record any changes in the structure of your enamel (hard tooth surface), dentin (soft inner part of a tooth), and cementum (hard connective tissue on the tooth root).
Once we have completed and recorded the results of these extensive tests and examinations, we compile our findings into a comprehensive 10-page report. That sounds like a lot of work – because it is! But it’s all completely necessary to help us develop the best treatment plan most suited and personalized to your particular dental needs.
What else is included?
In addition to these extensive testing, examination, analyzing, and reporting procedures, we also include:
Smile Design
This involves the design and management of the contours, shapes, and proportions associated with your teeth and mouth to achieve the perfect smile you’ve always wanted. To give you an idea of how involved this process is, we consider 35 different aspects to help you achieve a perfect, appropriate smile you’ll love.