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Are you looking for comprehensive dental care? An oral health care provider who can help you with all your needs, whether those needs are as routine as a regular cleaning or as complex as an oral surgery?
A teaching practice of the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine, Penn Dental Medicine (PDM) offers a wide range of dental treatments. You’ll find almost any routine or specialized procedure you could need conveniently under one roof. Our comprehensive dental services can benefit you and your family.
What Is Included in Comprehensive Dental Care?
When we say we at PDM offer comprehensive dental care, we’re doing more than pointing to our available dental procedures list, extensive though it is.
We’re saying we always attend to your oral health in the context of your overall health.
Dentists with a comprehensive mindset understand you are more than your mouth. They know problems with your teeth and gums can not only indicate but also exacerbate or even cause problems elsewhere in your body.
For this reason, every PDM patient’s first visit is a consultation. It may involve a cleaning, but your dentist will first get to know you and your medical history. They’ll ask about any problems you’re experiencing. They may take radiographs to evaluate your teeth and mouth’s condition as accurately as possible.
When they do clean your teeth, whether on your first or next visit, your dentist will also check the health of your gums, and screen your mouth and throat for signs of oral cancers and other diseases.
Our dentists do everything in respectful, patient-centered ways. Children, preadolescence, teens, adults, and persons with disabilities receive customized care designed to make the patients as comfortable as possible during dental procedures.
In short, a comprehensive dentist does much more than check for and fill cavities.
The Services You Need Are on PDM’s Dental Treatment List
Understanding none of our disciplines operates in a vacuum, here’s a list of dental procedures you can receive at PDM.
- General dentistry
General services include preventative care (such as dental cleanings, recommended every six months or at least once a year) and such restorative treatments as fillings, crowns, bridges, and dentures. A general dentist serves much like a primary physician, referring you to specialists as needed.
- Periodontics
Gum disease, or gingivitis (more severe periodontitis) is a common oral health problem. If your gums are swollen, appear to be receding, or bleed when you brush and floss, harmful bacteria are doing damage to your gums and teeth. Your periodontist will assess the severity of the disease and prescribe a treatment plan.
- Dental implants, crowns, and bridges
Say you’ve had an accident and notice your tooth is cold-sensitive. Perhaps you notice it’s chipped or fractured. Maybe you’ve lost a tooth. Your dentist may refer you to a specialist who can ensure your tooth damage extends no further than it already has. A crown fits over a tooth to restore and protect it. A bridge or dental implant completely and permanently replaces a missing tooth.
- Endodontics
If dental pulp (the nerves, tissue, blood vessels inside your teeth) get infected, you will need an endodontist to help. Root canal treatment is the most commonly associated endodontic procedure. But endodontic surgery, care for traumatic dental injuries, vital and regenerative pulp therapies, and even non-vital tooth bleaching are also available.
- Orthodontics
No list of comprehensive dental care is complete without this pillar of the dental profession. But straightening teeth isn’t only for kids. Nor is it done for cosmetic purposes alone. Orthodontics protect your mouth from future problems by aligning your teeth to help prevent excessive wear, decay, and even tooth loss. Orthodontists work in consort with professionals who manage sleep apnea with special oral appliances and with children with cleft palate.
As this list makes clear, once you’re a PDM patient, you and your family won’t need to go anywhere else for your dental care.
If you want to know more about the comprehensive dental care PDM provides, download our free eBook, Comprehensive Care and You: Penn Dental Medicine’s Dental Services. It details all our dental disciplines so you’ll know exactly how we can help you.
Ready to schedule an appointment? Contact us online or call us at 215-898-8965.
