A new patient’s initial visit usually includes a full examination and a dental cleaning. It’s a lengthy appointment, but it’s necessary to provide the patient with top-notch care from the very beginning. The full dental examination includes an assessment of the teeth, cavities, existing fillings, gums, tongue, soft tissues, palate and inside of the cheeks; small and large X-rays; pictures of the inside and outside of the mouth; general periodontal treatments; and the assessment of prosthodontics, if relevant. Due to the exhaustive nature of this examination, a second appointment may be necessary in some cases to share the results of your oral health assessment and to finish the cleaning, if necessary. Once we have all the information we need, we will be able to tell you about the different possibilities available to you so you can make a sound, informed decision. Once the full examination is done, it’s recommended that you come back for regular dental checkups (excluding dental treatments) every 3, 6, 9 or 12 months, depending on your oral health (every 6 to 12 months being the most common). This shorter examination consists of a cleaning and some X-rays (fewer than for the full examination) to check how your oral health is doing. Our clinic has a “Dental Health Booklet,” which is given to patients after their initial visit. The Dental Health Booklet gives you direct access to your oral health. After each visit, the treatments provided by Les Dentistes du Vieux-Port de Montréal will be recorded in it, with a detailed description (type of treatment, tooth number, date, etc.). Our goal is to be as transparent as possible about your oral health, since it is your mouth after all! It’s important to bring the booklet with you at each visit so that we can give you the best care possible.

It’s important to keep primary teeth in the mouth until the permanent teeth come out. The primary teeth act as guardians. They finish erupting when children are around two years old and the last ones fall out at the age of 11 or 12. Primary teeth serve to guide permanent teeth into their positions when they start erupting, between the ages of 6 and 13. Losing a milk tooth due to a cavity or an impact may cause:

• the other teeth to move
• the space reserved for the permanent tooth to close in
• the permanent tooth to come in at an angle (crooked)
• the permanent teeth to become crowded

A cavity left untreated may cause:

• a painful abscess
• an infection that can reach the permanent tooth bud and cause irregularities

Cavities can affect children under five and progress quickly. They can be painful when eating cold foods, when chewing or for no specific reason during the night. But be wary, as cavities can be asymptomatic for both children and adults (the cavity gets worse, but the patient doesn’t feel any pain). They can occur in children:

• whose oral hygiene is lacking
• who sleep with a bottle or trainer cup containing milk, juice or other sweet drinks
• who consume a lot of sugar
• whose family members have a history of being susceptible to cavities
• who are given pacifiers dipped in a sugary product

That’s why it’s so important for your children to see the dentist regularly!

To be whitened, teeth must be healthy and clean (with no cavities or restorations deemed too defective). Once everything is in order, we will take impressions of your teeth to make custom plastic trays that you can use to whiten your teeth at home. Depending on the original shade and sensitivity of your teeth, we will prescribe a certain number of sessions. Results vary depending on each patient. The treatment, which usually takes two weeks, consists of using a syringe to put the whitening gel in the trays. You then wear the trays in your mouth and they keep the gel in contact with your teeth. This generally needs to be done daily. If your teeth or gums feel uncomfortable, our dentists recommend using Sensodyne toothpaste and spacing out the whitening sessions. During the treatment and a few days after it, it’s important to avoid dark foods with a lot of tannins, like coffee, red wine, etc. At-home whitening allows you to do touch-ups yourself over the years to keep your teeth white. In most cases, you can keep the trays for subsequent treatments.

Les Dentistes du Vieux-Port de Montréal are generalist dentists who are qualified to provide high-quality orthodontic treatments. Orthodontics is a field of dentistry that focuses on fixing malpositioned teeth and jaws. Orthodontic treatments are used to fix a smile’s appearance and any functional disorders caused by your bite. Braces are the traditional way of fixing crowded or crooked teeth. The treatment takes longer with braces – usually several months or even several years in some cases. The severity and complexity of the issue will determine how long the treatment will take. Regardless of the nature of the problem, traditional braces essentially always work the same way: A metal bracket is glued onto each tooth. The brackets are connected by a metal wire, called an archwire. It’s held in place by ligature elastics (or “o-rings”). - When patients come in for their routine checkups, we very gradually adjust the archwire’s position to produce the desired result. We observe how the teeth move on a weekly basis, until we have fixed the mispositioned teeth. Of course, some precautions are necessary when wearing traditional braces, in terms of both your oral hygiene and what you eat. Your dentist will give you some tips on how to maintain a good hygiene and avoid damaging your braces.