Far more than a quick check on a single troubling tooth, a comprehensive dental examination offers a complete evaluation of your entire oral health including every tooth, your gums, your bite alignment, and an oral cancer screening. Upon leaving our Scarborough practice, you will receive a detailed written treatment plan outlining our findings, clear recommendations, items that can be safely monitored, and transparent cost estimates for each available option.
Support line: New to the clinic? A comprehensive exam is the right first visit.
An exam is only as useful as what it looks at. Ours covers five things, and we will talk you through each one as we go.
Tooth-by-tooth assessment. We chart every tooth — decay, cracks, wear, and the condition of fillings and crowns you already have. Old dental work fails quietly, and it is usually cheaper to replace before it does.
Gum and periodontal screening. Small depth readings around each tooth. This is how gum disease is caught early, while it still responds to a cleaning rather than to treatment.
Oral cancer screening. A visual and physical check of your soft tissue, tongue, floor of the mouth and neck. It is part of every comprehensive exam, not an extra you have to ask for.
Bite, jaw and existing dental work. Grinding, clicking and uneven wear show up here, often before you have noticed them yourself.
X-rays, only where they are needed. Not automatically and not at every visit only where something cannot be seen by looking.
A comprehensive exam is the full picture. It is what you have when you are new to a practice, or when it has been a long time since your last visit.
A recall checkup is the shorter follow-up at your regular visits, where we compare against what we already know and look for what has changed.
Think of the comprehensive exam as the baseline. Everything after it is a comparison, which is why the first one takes longer and covers more.
We start with your history — medications, health conditions, anything that has changed since you last saw a dentist. This matters more than most people expect, because a number of common medications affect the mouth directly.
Then the assessment above, in order, with the findings explained as we go rather than summarised at the end.
A written treatment plan in plain English, with options rather than a single instruction.
If something needs doing now, we say so and explain why. If something can reasonably be watched and re-checked in six months, we say that too and “watch it” is a real clinical answer here, not a way of putting you off. Where there is more than one sensible route, you get both, with the trade-offs and the possible cost of each.
You should never leave a dental office unsure what was found or what happens next. If anything on your plan is not clear, ask us before you leave the chair.
We see whole households, which is the practical advantage of a family dentist in Scarborough one clinic, one set of records, fewer trips.
Children. A first visit around the first birthday, or when the first teeth arrive. Early appointments are short and low-pressure, and they build a fifteen-year-old who is not frightened of the dentist.
Adults and families. We book family members together where the schedule allows, which saves a second trip across the city.
Older adults and caregivers. Dry mouth, root decay and the upkeep of older dental work need a different kind of attention. Caregivers are welcome in the room, and we will speak to both of you rather than over one of you.
For most adults, every six months.
Some people need to be seen more often, usually those with a history of gum disease, a high decay rate, dry mouth caused by medication, or diabetes. Others can safely stretch to nine or twelve months.
We will tell you which group you are in and why, rather than putting everyone on the same recall schedule.
Examination fees in Ontario follow the Ontario Dental Association Fee Guide. A comprehensive exam costs more than a recall exam because it takes longer and covers more, and X-rays are billed separately when they are taken.
For eligible Canadian Dental Care Plan patients, examinations sit within the plan’s covered categories, subject to frequency limits and your co-payment level. We can check your coverage status before your appointment, and we will tell you about any amount the plan is not expected to cover before treatment goes ahead. [CDCP dental care at Smiles Clinic →]
It depends on whether it is a comprehensive or a recall exam, and whether X-rays are taken at the same visit. Fees follow the Ontario Dental Association Fee Guide. We give you the figure for your appointment before you book.
Examinations are within the plan's covered categories for eligible patients, subject to frequency limits and your co-payment level. Coverage should be confirmed for the date of service.
About 45 minutes for a comprehensive exam. Allow roughly another 30 to 45 minutes if you are having a cleaning at the same visit.
No. X-rays are taken based on your risk and how long it has been since your last set — not on a fixed schedule.
Around the first birthday, or when the first teeth come through. The first visits are deliberately short.
We explain what it is, what your options are, what happens if you leave it, and what each option may cost. Then you decide. Nothing gets booked in the same breath as the diagnosis.
