Going Back to the Dentist After Years Away: What Your First Visit Involves
If it has been years since your last dental appointment, the not-knowing is often the worst part. You may not remember what a checkup involves. This article covers what a first visit back may involve, using a general dental checkup as its guide: what the checkup may include, what may follow if gum disease is found, and the questions worth asking once you are in the chair.
Before you call
Tell whoever answers the phone how long it has been since your last visit and what is worrying you. Saying it early gets it out of the way instead of leaving it to hang over the appointment. Then write your questions down beforehand, because the ones you most want answered are the ones that go missing while someone is looking in your mouth.
What a general dental checkup may involve
What follows describes a general dental checkup, not any particular practice's appointment. At a checkup, the dentist or hygienist may ask about your recent medical history and examine your mouth (American Dental Association (MouthHealthy)). Whether X-rays are needed is determined at the visit (American Dental Association (MouthHealthy)).
Depending on your treatment plan, the hygienist may check your gums for gum disease. The dentist may also evaluate your overall dental health and do an oral cancer screening, checking your tongue and your whole mouth and feeling your jaw and neck (American Dental Association (MouthHealthy)).
If gum disease is found
A question people ask before going back is what happens if something is found. If gum disease is found, the dentist may conduct scaling and root planing — a deep cleaning — as part of treatment, and the types of treatment vary depending on the extent of the gum disease (National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)).
Questions worth asking
Before you leave, ask what was found, in plain terms. Ask which of it needs attention sooner and which can wait, so you are not left guessing at the order. And ask what each step will cost before any treatment starts; that answer belongs to the practice, not to an article. For the practice's side of that, see its insurance and payment options.
If you are nervous
Say so out loud. You can tell the team you are nervous before anything starts, ask them to explain what they are doing as they go, and ask to agree on a signal that means pause. Nerves are easier to work around when the people in the room know about them.
Your next step
Dental Associates of Lodi is in Lodi, NJ. For its own first-visit details and booking, see its first-visit page. For what routine care looks like after that, see routine checkups from here on. And if you have not settled on a practice yet, start with how to choose a dentist.
Sources
- American Dental Association (MouthHealthy). "Your Top 9 Questions About Going to the Dentist—Answered!" https://www.mouthhealthy.org/dental-care/questions-about-going-to-the-dentist
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). "Periodontal (Gum) Disease." Updated 2026-08. https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/gum-disease
