Benefits of Planning Out Your Dental Care

Plan your dental care. When an extensive amount of dental work needs to be done, it takes a well- thought-out plan and preparation.

When an extensive amount of dental work needs to be done, it takes a well- thought-out plan and preparation. You would not build a building without careful planning, and you would not want to do a lot of dental work without planning.

Your plan starts with an exam that screens for oral cancer and assesses the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, as well as the condition of each tooth. Bone and gum health are determined by a periodontal exam that includes measuring the gum tissue pockets, examining the mobility of each tooth and assessing gum inflammation caused by bacteria. 

The dentist chooses the best kind of X-ray needed in order to diagnose anything that is not showing up in the mouth. Sometimes a CT or MRI needs to be done to examine the joint health.     

Mounted model copies of your teeth are used on an articulator, a device that resembles the jaw. Digital pictures are taken to spot any problems that need to be addressed. Imaging is done to plan your smile.

All this information allows the dentist to prepare treatment options to address your needs and wants.

Once you have chosen a treatment, your dentist will create your unique plan before getting started in the mouth. The more planning that happens before care begins, the easier the treatment will be.

Stacey Sparkman Hall, D.D.S.: Dr. Stacey Hall brings her unique outlook on dental care and her personable optimism to the Williamsburg Center for Dental Health. With nine years of solid dental expertise as a dentist in Williamsburg, she decided in early 2011 to branch out and open her own local practice. After completing her undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 1998, Dr. Hall graduated from VCU’s MCV School of Dentistry in 2002, receiving her D.D.S. She is a member of the Academy of General Dentistry, the American Dental Association, and was awarded member fellowship to the International Congress of Oral Implantology in 2008. She leads the elite Tidewater Dawson Study Club and is a scholar with the interntaionally renowned Dawson Academy. As a Dawson ambassador, Dr. Hall also assists in the training of students in the Dawson Academy. Stacey and her husband Michael have been blessed with three beautiful girls, Lanie, Gracie and Abbie. She is a loyal Virginia Tech Football fan, and enjoys Bible study and missions work.