Individualized Risk Assessment for Cavities in St. Louis

We live in a data-driven world. Companies analyze all kinds of information about us to personalize their products, ads, e-mail campaigns and other marketing tools. Health care and research organizations do as well.

As dentists, we are concerned with prevention of cavities and educate our patients about the consequences of dental caries and the importance of home care and regular dental checkups. But we didn’t have an industry-wide system to help us determine what risk factors each patient has that could contribute to caries development, such as:

• Frequent snacking or sipping can produce acids that wear down your teeth and their resistance to caries
• Medications or health conditions that cause dry mouth and a lack of saliva that helps to wash away food and plaque, and helps counter the acidic effect of some foods and drinks.
• Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia can cause tooth erosion and cavities.

These are just a few of the factors that can increase your risk for caries. By discovering how many of the known risk factors you have, and the level of risk for each factor, we can now get a complete, detailed analysis of what your individual risk is for cavities, and how we (you, and us) can best prevent and treat cavities.

All you have to do is complete a questionnaire. We’ll compile your answers and determine what your risk is. Prevention strategies can include fluoride sealants, antimicrobial mouthwashes, and dietary adjustments. If cavities are detected, we use the most minimally invasive treatments possible.

This patient care process has been developed by the American Dental Association, as well as other dental associations and leading experts and researchers to assess risk and preventive therapies for infants and children up to five years of age, and children aged five and up through adult life stages.

Dr. Thomas C. Flavin in St. Louis has always made individualized patient care and attention a priority in his practice. The CAMBRA system has become a valuable tool to help inform him and all of his patients of the best dental prevention and treatment plans.

If this type of personal attention and thoroughness has been missing from your dental health care, call our office in St. Louis to schedule an appointment. You’ll see that our practice is as far from “one size fits all” as possible.