Risk Assessment

Why is Risk Assessment Important?

Risk assessment is an important part of preventive dental care because it enables us to identify the best approach for you. Everyone is unique, so the advice that we give needs to be personalised for you. A risk assessment helps us to understand which kinds of dental problems could affect you in the future. We can then give you the best advice on what you can do to avoid these issues.

Preventing dental problems is a priority because it can help you to avoid painful or damaging experiences. It can also reduce the need for dental treatment. We want your teeth and gums to stay as healthy as possible.

We can do a lot to prevent dental problems from developing. We can help you to take better care of your teeth with advice on tooth brushing and diet. We may also recommend preventive dental treatments to reduce the risks. The approach we take will be tailored to your needs based on your risk assessment. We’ll help you to take control of your dental health by providing options for reducing the risks.

What Happens During a Dental Risk Assessment?

We can use several different techniques during a risk assessment to understand different aspects of your dental health. We can learn a lot from your dental exam, but we’ll also ask about your health and habits.

• Current health of your teeth and gums
• Past dental problems
• Medical history and family history of dental problems
• How you take care of your teeth
• Diet and lifestyle factors such as smoking

We’ll consider all of this information to work out if you are at higher or lower risk of specific issues. Some factors increase your risk of dental problems, but others can actually help to protect you.

What Happens Next?

Once we’ve completed the risk assessment, we should have a good idea of what needs to be done to prevent problems in the future. We’ll explain the risks that we’ve identified and give you some options to reduce them.

We can use the risk assessment to tell you:

• When you should come for your next check up
• If there’s anything you can do differently to reduce the risk, such as changing your diet or the way you brush your teeth
• Which preventive dental treatments might be helpful for you

The risk assessment will enable us to provide personalised advice for you. We will do everything we can to reduce the risks that you’re facing. Although we can’t eliminate every risk, we can reduce the chances of certain problems developing. We can also take steps to prevent problems from getting worse. We always want to minimise the amount of treatment you need, now and in the future.