What To ExpectAt Your First Visit
You have heard the saying that the eyes are a window to your soul. Dr. Cortes genuinely believes that the condition of your mouth is a window to your health.
That is why a first visit here is not a quick look and a cleaning. It is a full picture of what is going on, so that everything that follows is based on evidence instead of guesswork.
01
A full mouth series of X-rays.
A full mouth series, or FMX, is a complete set of images covering every tooth and the bone that holds it. A single bitewing shows a small area. An FMX shows all of it: decay starting between teeth where no exam can see it, infection at the tip of a root, bone loss from gum disease, old work that is failing underneath. It is the baseline. Without it, a dentist is treating what is visible and guessing at the rest, and the things that cost you a tooth are almost never the things you can see.
02
An oral cancer screening.
Dr. Cortes checks your tongue, the floor of your mouth, your cheeks, your throat and the lymph nodes in your neck. This takes about two minutes and it is part of every exam here, not an upsell. Oral cancer caught early is very often survivable and very often minor to treat. Caught late it is neither. Most people who find it early find it at a routine dental visit, which is the entire argument for going to one.
03
A periodontal assessment.
We measure the space between each tooth and the gum around it with a small probe, and we call out a number for each site. Those numbers are the health of the foundation your teeth sit in. One to three millimeters is healthy. Four is where we start paying attention. Five and above means the pocket is now deeper than you can clean at home with a brush and floss, and bacteria are living somewhere you cannot reach. Bleeding while we measure tells us there is active inflammation. You will hear us saying these numbers out loud as we go. Ask what yours are. It is your mouth, and the numbers are the clearest way to see whether things are getting better or worse over time.
04
A comprehensive exam.
Dr. Cortes evaluates every single tooth in your mouth, not just the one that hurts. He checks existing fillings and crowns, how your teeth come together when you bite, wear patterns, cracks, and the health of the gum and bone around everything. The tooth that brought you in is often a symptom of something happening elsewhere, and finding that is the difference between fixing a problem and repeating it.
05
Intraoral photos.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We take photographs inside your mouth and put them on the screen, so you can see the actual condition of your own teeth rather than taking our word for it. This changes the conversation. When you can see the crack, or the old filling that is leaking, or the gum that is inflamed, you are not deciding whether to trust a stranger. You are looking at the same picture we are and making the call yourself.
06
A comprehensive treatment plan.
Before you leave, you will know what needs to happen and in what order. We address your top priority first, meaning whatever is causing pain or is about to. Then we lay out the rest as a full plan: what is urgent, what can wait, what it takes to keep it from coming back, and roughly what each stage costs. You are not going to get a surprise list at your next visit. You will leave with the whole map.
Plan On AboutTwo Hours
All of the above takes time to do properly, and rushing it defeats the purpose. See dental services in Kearny Mesa, or emergency dentist visits in Kearny Mesa if you are in pain. For larger treatment, see ways to pay for your care.