We at btyDENTAL believe that a healthy smile is the cornerstone of overall well-being. Our general dentistry services are designed to provide comprehensive oral care for patients of all ages, ensuring that your teeth and gums remain in optimal condition.
From routine check-ups to advanced treatments, we’re committed to helping you achieve and maintain a vibrant, healthy smile that lasts a lifetime. Let us be your partner in oral health, providing expert care with a gentle touch.
Routine general dentistry appointments preserve your teeth and gums and reduce your risk of common oral health problems like cavities and periodontal disease. At btyDENTAL in Bonney Lake, Puyallup, Sumner, and Tacoma, Washington, the team of skilled dentists provides general dentistry to people of all ages, including teeth cleanings, fillings, and dental X-rays. Call the nearest btyDENTAL office today to schedule an appointment or book your visit online.
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General dentistry is the care you’ll see most often, and the care that does the most to keep bigger treatments off your calendar. Across 8 btyDENTAL offices in the Puget Sound region, our dentists look after patients of every age, from a toddler’s first visit through to restorative work later in life.
Most of what we do here falls into a handful of familiar treatments, starting with teeth cleanings and exams and running through fillings, X-rays, and the restorative work that follows when something is caught late. Find the office nearest you further down this page, or book online in about a minute.
What Does General Dentistry Actually Cover?
General dentistry is the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of the problems that affect most mouths most of the time. It’s a broad category by design, because the same dentist who cleans your teeth in March is the one who spots the cracked molar in September.
At btyDENTAL, that covers:
- Cleanings and exams. The visit most patients book twice a year, and the one that finds nearly everything else on this list.
- Dental X-rays. Images that show decay between teeth and bone loss below the gumline, neither of which a visual exam can reach.
- Fillings. Restoring a tooth once decay has worked through the enamel.
- Root canals. Clearing infection from inside a tooth so the tooth itself can stay.
- Extractions. Removing a tooth when it can’t be saved, or when it’s crowding the ones around it.
- Emergency care. Same-day attention for pain, swelling, or a tooth that’s broken.
Cosmetic and orthodontic work sits outside this list, though our dentists handle plenty of both. If you’re weighing something more involved, a general exam is usually still the right starting point, because it establishes what’s healthy before anyone plans what to change.
Does General Dentistry Cover Children?
Yes, and the schedule starts earlier than most parents expect. Current guidance from the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry puts the first visit at around the first birthday, or within 6 months of the first tooth appearing.
Early visits are short and mostly about familiarity. Your dentist counts the teeth, checks how they’re coming in, and lets your child get used to the chair while nothing needs doing. Sealants and fluoride treatments come later, once the permanent molars arrive.
How Often Should You See a Dentist?
Most adults do well on 2 visits a year, and that’s the interval our dentists start from. It isn’t a universal rule, and your exam is what settles it.
Several things tend to push the interval shorter:
- A history of gum disease
- Smoking or vaping
- Pregnancy
- Diabetes
- Dry mouth as a side effect of medication
- Children with newly erupted molars
If none of those apply and your last several checkups were clean, your dentist may well say twice a year is more than enough. The point of asking is that you get an interval built around your mouth rather than an average.
What Happens at a General Dentistry Appointment?
Knowing the order of events tends to take the edge off, particularly if it’s been a while. A routine visit at any btyDENTAL office follows roughly the same four stages.
Review and Imaging
We start with your health history, including any medications, because plenty of them affect the mouth. If X-rays are due, we take them first so your dentist has the full picture before looking in.
The Cleaning
A hygienist removes plaque and tartar from above and below the gumline, then polishes. If your gums bleed easily or the tartar is heavy, this takes longer, and your hygienist will tell you what they’re seeing as they go.
The Exam
Your dentist checks each tooth, reads the X-rays, measures gum pockets where needed, and screens the soft tissue for anything unusual. This is the part where problems get named.
What Comes Next
If everything looks healthy, you book your next cleaning and you’re done. If something needs treatment, we’ll explain what it is, what happens if you wait, and what your options cost before you commit to anything.
What About Your Gums?
Gum disease gets less attention than decay and affects a comparable number of people. NIDCR reports that close to half of adults aged 45 to 64 have some form of it, and the early stage rarely announces itself.
Gingivitis, the first stage, is inflammation of the gum tissue. It shows up as redness, puffiness, and bleeding when you brush, and at that point it’s generally reversible with a thorough cleaning and better home care. Left alone, it can progress to periodontitis, where the bone supporting the tooth starts to recede and the damage stops being reversible.
Your hygienist measures the pocket depth around your teeth at checkups for exactly this reason. Shallow pockets are normal, deeper ones suggest the attachment is breaking down, and the numbers your hygienist reads out are that measurement.
How Do You Make the Months in Between Count?
Most of your oral health happens outside our building, which your dentist will be the first to admit. The basics genuinely do most of the work:
- Brush twice daily with a fluoride toothpaste, for a full 2 minutes
- Clean between your teeth once a day, with floss, picks, or a water flosser
- Cut down on how often you sip sugary or acidic drinks, which matters more than the total amount
- Wear a nightguard if you grind, and mention it to your dentist if you wake up with a sore jaw
- Call us when something changes, rather than waiting for your next scheduled visit
That last one is the one people skip. A tooth that’s newly sensitive to cold, a filling that feels rough, or a spot of gum that bleeds every time are all easier to deal with in week 1 than in month 6.
Why Does Catching a Problem Early Matter?
Decay doesn’t stay the same size. It moves through enamel, then dentin, then into the pulp at the center of the tooth, and the treatment changes at every stage.
A cavity caught in the enamel is usually a filling and a single short appointment. The same tooth left alone long enough often needs a root canal and a crown, which means more visits, more cost, and less of your original tooth remaining. Nothing about the cavity changed except how long it sat there.
This is also why exams find things you can’t feel. Decay usually doesn’t hurt at all until it reaches the nerve, which is late. The CDC reports that about 1 in 4 adults aged 20 to 64 has untreated tooth decay right now.
What Affects the Cost of General Dentistry?
Preventive visits and restorative work are priced differently, so the honest answer is that it depends on which one you need. A few things drive the difference:
- Whether the visit is preventive or restorative
- How many surfaces of a tooth a filling has to cover
- Whether X-rays are included or taken separately
- Which filling material you and your dentist choose
- Whether gum treatment is needed alongside the cleaning
We’re in network with most major PPO plans, and preventive care is typically the best-covered category on a dental plan. Coverage still varies by plan and by office, so it’s worth asking us to check your benefits before your visit rather than after.
If you don’t have dental insurance, our dental membership plans and third-party financing are both options worth looking at. You can see how those work on our insurance and financing page, and we’ve written separately about what a teeth cleaning costs in Washington.
Where Can You Get General Dentistry Care?
Every btyDENTAL office provides the full range of general dentistry, including cleanings, exams, fillings, X-rays, and extractions. Choose the one nearest you.
| Office | Where to find us | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| btyDENTAL Bellevue | 10500 NE 8th St, downtown Bellevue | 425-688-1345 |
| btyDENTAL Bonney Lake | 18209 WA-410, Suite 300 | 253-826-8800 |
| btyDENTAL DuPont | 1545 Wilmington Dr, Suite 100 | 253-581-6779 |
| btyDENTAL Federal Way | 2315 SW 320th St | 253-838-9314 |
| btyDENTAL Lynnwood | 16108 Ash Way S, Suite 202 | 425-741-2030 |
| btyDENTAL Puyallup | 18710 Meridian E, Suite 216, South Hill | 253-846-5588 |
| btyDENTAL Sumner | 15306 Main St E, Suite A | 253-891-9100 |
| btyDENTAL Tacoma | 5003 Tacoma Mall Blvd, Suite 103 | 253-759-3366 |
Hours differ by office, so check your office’s page for its current schedule before you drive over.
Common Questions About General Dentistry
What’s the difference between a general dentist and a family dentist?
In practice, very little. “Family dentist” usually signals that a practice treats children as well as adults, which our dentists do. Both terms describe the same scope of routine and restorative care.
Do I need X-rays at every visit?
Usually not. How often you need them depends on your age, your decay history, and what your dentist can see without them. Your dentist will tell you when they’re due rather than defaulting to every visit.
Is a deep cleaning the same as a regular cleaning?
No. A regular cleaning works at and just below the gumline. A deep cleaning, called scaling and root planing, goes further down the root surface and is used when gum disease has created deeper pockets.
Can a general dentist do a root canal or a crown?
Often, yes. Our dentists handle many root canals and crowns in house. Complex cases sometimes go to a specialist, and your dentist will say so upfront if that’s the better route for your tooth.
How long does a cleaning and exam take?
Usually 45 to 60 minutes for a routine visit. Expect longer if it’s your first appointment with us, if X-rays are due, or if there’s heavy tartar to work through.
What if I’m anxious about dental visits?
Tell whoever books your appointment, because it changes how we run the visit. Our team can slow the pace, explain each step before it happens, and build in breaks. Some of our offices also offer sedation options, so ask when you call.
It’s been years since my last visit. What should I expect?
A longer first appointment than usual, and a fuller set of X-rays. Our dentists will map out what needs doing and in what order, and treatment can usually be staged over several visits rather than done all at once.
The Bottom Line
General dentistry is the least dramatic part of dental care and the part that decides how dramatic the rest of it gets. Two visits a year, adjusted to whatever your own mouth needs, is what keeps most problems at the filling stage instead of the crown stage.
If you’re due for a cleaning, or it’s been long enough that you’ve stopped counting, our team can get you booked at whichever office is closest. New here? Our new patient page covers what to bring and what the first visit looks like.
