When you visit the dentist, he does a few common dental examinations which most people are familiar with. Upon being ushered in the dentist office, the first person who works on your teeth is the dental hygienist. Cleaning your teeth and taking X-rays of them is the responsibility of the dental hygienist. To find more deeper issues with the gums and the teeth, the dentist then looks at the x-rays taken by the hygienist. More serious oral diseases such as oral cancer can also be identified by the dentist by looking at those x-rays.
Described above is the regular checkup but sometimes comprehensive checkup is required. More detailed and thorough checkup of the neck, mouth and head is done in the comprehensive examination. An x-ray of the mouth, head or neck may also be required for the comprehensive checkup.
Dentists usually go for a comprehensive check up for the first visit of a patient. This tells the dentist about the overall health of the patient and any existing condition, he needs to be aware of. This kind of comprehensive examination is required for the first time visit so that the dentist can now work with you in the future based on your health. New issues can be identified only if the dentist has done this kind of comprehensive examination, otherwise the dentist might mistake the new health problem with a preexisting condition on a subsequent visit.
Every dentist has his or her own style to do the regular and comprehensive examination. So it doesn't mean that your dentist is not a good dentist if he doesn't do the examination as described here. But if the style of working of your dentist concerns you, then you have every right to ask questions to clarify. Ask questions to find out if you feel that the dentist is missing to do certain checkup or is doing some checkups that may not be necessary or you don't know about.
What has been described herein is the procedure of the visit to a general or family dentist, the procedures for a pediatric dentist, cosmetic dentist, oral surgeon, endodontist, periodontist or orthodontist are going to be very different. For the procedures undertaken by each of these specialities you will need to check articles for them specifically since all of these are very different from each other.
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