Dentist in Loganville and Bay Creek

Step 1: The Comprehensive Exam

Your first visit starts with records. A team member takes digital X-rays, which use a fraction of the radiation of older film systems, plus photographs of your teeth and gums. Dr. Erin Pickwick then performs the clinical exam. She checks each tooth for decay and cracks, measures gum pockets to screen for periodontal disease, evaluates your bite, and completes an oral cancer screening of your tongue, cheeks, and throat.

This stage is diagnosis, not treatment. Nothing gets drilled, pulled, or numbed. The exam exists to answer one question accurately: what is the true condition of your mouth? Uninsured patients pay a flat $159 for this full workup, X-rays included. Insured patients can request a complimentary benefits check by phone first, so the exam itself arrives with no billing mystery.

Step 2: A Plan You Can Read and Question

Dr. Pickwick walks you through the images on screen and shows you what she sees, in plain English. If your mouth is healthy, the plan is a cleaning and a six-month recall, and that is the whole conversation. If you need work, each recommended procedure appears in writing with its cost, your estimated insurance portion, and the order it should happen in.

You can question anything. Why this crown instead of a filling? What happens if I wait a year? Honest answers are the house policy, including the times when waiting is genuinely fine.

Gum findings get the same plain treatment. If the exam shows early gingivitis, you hear that a thorough cleaning and better home care usually reverse it. If pocket depths point to periodontitis, the plan starts with a deeper cleaning called scaling and root planing, and you learn the recall schedule that keeps it controlled. No scare tactics, just the staging and the plan that matches it.

Step 3: Treatment, and What Recovery Feels Like

Treatment appointments follow a steady rhythm. Numbing comes first and gets time to work fully. The team narrates each step so nothing startles you, and you can raise a hand to pause at any point. We offer sedation for longer procedures or nervous patients.

Afterward, expect numbness for a few hours and mild soreness for a day or two with most fillings and crowns. Implant placement involves a longer healing window while the post fuses with your jawbone. You leave every appointment with written aftercare instructions and a phone number that reaches a human if something feels wrong.