 Hello everybody, Andrea here with Dentalel. I'm going to talk to you guys about what it's like after you haven't been to the dentist or the dental hygienist in a while. Let's say it's been a couple of years, 10 years, 20 years, whatever. So what to expect at that new patient exam and your cleaning after it's been a while. And what a lot of patients say to me is, why is it so expensive? And when I talk specifically about cleanings, it's hard for me to give a price over the phone or talk to patients about how much it's going to be for a tube cleaning before I see them because it's kind of like cleaning your oven. If it's been five years, there's going to be a lot of buildup there. Your mouth is no different. So it's going to cost more, it's going to take longer, but I want to show you guys a couple of things just to give you an idea. So I'm going to share my screen here for one moment just to kind of show you the dental charting that you will notice we do and kind of how it all works. So when you haven't seen a dentist or hygienist for a while, you will be booked in for a new patient exam. Even if you're not a new patient, if you've been there before, but it's been two years, five years, 10 years, we do need to update your chart. So technically it's called a comprehensive exam. It's the same exam, but for new patients we call it a new patient exam. For existing patients we call it a comprehensive exam. So this is what the dental chart looks like this. I just took online just to kind of show you guys an example. But what we do is we go through each tooth one by one and we put in the chart either on paper or the computer what you have. So do you have a crown? Do you have a bridge? Do you have a sealant? This is a root canal. This is a bridge in red, meaning the bridge has to be done again. So it might have cavities underneath and might be breaking. It's hard to say, but if you see something in red, that means, uh-oh, not good. We have to do it again. This is a chipped tooth. This is likely an amalgam filling on top of teeth that have been root canal. So we go through each tooth. As you can imagine, that's going to take time. This is why your appointment is going to cost a little bit more because it's not simply saying, oh, hi, Mr. Smith. We're just going to check for cavities and we're just going to do a cleaning today. If we haven't seen you in a long time, we need to update your chart. Otherwise, we're kind of in there. We don't know what we're looking at. Things have changed. So this is very important. And let me show you guys another thing. So this is what your teeth may look like if it's been several years. This is clean teeth. So this is the same person. So notice the brown, the yellow, the buildup and then clean looks pretty awesome, right? But this is what your teeth are going to look like after two years, five years, 10 years. It's hard to say. Everybody's different. But you get the idea. Dirty teeth, clean teeth. Dirty teeth, clean teeth. So it's going to take us longer to clean those teeth than it is to clean somebody's teeth who come in every six months. So what you can expect is you are going to likely see either the dentist first or the hygienist first. You might be getting your teeth cleaned first with the hygienist and then the dentist will come in and do the comprehensive exam. So they are going to go through every tooth and kind of talk about what you have. In those teeth, the existing fillings, if you have cavities, what needs to be done, that kind of thing. They might also take x-rays. So either the hygienist is going to take x-rays or the dental assistant. But again, this is why it might cost a little bit more because there's a lot to do. It's not the same as if you go every six months, you had x-rays last time. You don't have to worry about it. Nothing's changed in six months. You don't have to worry about it. The teeth are fairly clean. So it's kind of us catching up. And this is what I do when I see new patients, even patients, if they haven't had their teeth cleaned in let's say five years. So I'm a mobile dental hygienist. I go to their home for their dental hygiene exam and teeth cleanings. But how I explain to them is I look inside the mouth first. I will update the chart. If I've seen them before, then I have that chart that I showed you before, which I can show you guys again. I will have a chart similar to this. So I will just look at the chart and see if there's any changes. It might take two minutes, maybe even less. But if they're a new patient, then I go through every tooth and fill this out one by one. So that way I have their existing chart for next time. So if I'm going through the chart one by one or sorry, the teeth one by one, it takes longer, right? And in dental, we bill for our time. As in any business, think about a lawyer. They bill for their time. Think about mechanics. They bill for their time. If it takes them half an hour, they're going to bill a half an hour. So it's cheaper, it's better if you can get your teeth cleaned on a more regular basis because we spend less time. It's cheaper for you, easier for us, it's a win-win. But having that said, don't be afraid. If it's been 10 years, trust me, we would love to see you. And having that said, we will work within your budget. Just let your dental office know. For my patients, I let all of my new patients know, especially if it's been several years and may have said to me, I have dental anxiety. I'm sorry I haven't been for a while, but it's been several years. I'm nervous, there's going to be a lot of work done. I don't have a lot of money. I do work within your budget. So let's just say you have $200 to spend, that's it. I'm going to do what I can with your $200. It might take longer. I might say I could only clean half the mouth because there's a lot of buildup there. Let's book in two months when you have the money again to do the other half. So I work with you, that is very important to me. So talk to your dental office, same thing. They will work with you. It's nice to have an estimate of the costs of front two because we understand you, you know, if you have dental insurance or not, costs can add up, but we have to do what is right for us. We can't just not do an exam because you want to save money. We need to examine first to know what we have to do. We can't just clean three teeth because that's all the money you have. We need to clean the whole mouth to make you as healthy as possible. So we will work within your budget. I hope that helps you guys. Please let me know if you have any questions. I am so happy to help. And I will see you guys in the next video.