GENERAL DENTISTRY
Dental Exams & Checkups
Thorough, unhurried dental exams with Dr. Marta Rudat to catch small problems early, monitor changes over time, and help keep your teeth healthy for years to come.
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Quick Answer
A dental exam at Marta Rudat DDS covers every tooth, your gums, your bite, your existing dental work, and an oral cancer screening, with digital X-rays when you're due. Dr. Rudat performs every exam herself. Exams typically run $100 to $400 depending on what's included, and many PPO dental plans cover preventive exams at or near 100%.
The Exam
What Dr. Rudat checks during a dental exam.
A checkup is a thorough inspection of your teeth, gums, bite, and existing dental work. Here's what Dr. Rudat looks for:
Every tooth, individually
Each tooth is checked for decay, cracks, and wear. Some problems are visible during the exam. Others, including decay between teeth or around existing restorations, may require X-rays to detect.
Your gums
Your gums are examined for signs of inflammation, recession, and periodontal disease. When appropriate, measurements around the teeth help Dr. Rudat evaluate the health of the tissues and bone supporting them.
Your bite and wear patterns
Flattened edges, chips, unusual wear, and jaw symptoms can provide clues about how your teeth are coming together and whether clenching or grinding may be affecting them. When protection is appropriate, Dr. Rudat may recommend a custom night guard .
Your existing dental work
Fillings, crowns, bridges, implants, and other restorations are checked for signs of wear, damage, recurrent decay, or changes that may need attention.
Oral cancer screening
Dr. Rudat examines the soft tissues of your mouth for unusual changes, including your tongue, cheeks, gums, lips, and other visible oral tissues. Finding suspicious changes early allows them to be evaluated promptly.
Digital X-rays, when they're needed
X-rays can reveal information that isn't visible during a clinical exam, including decay between teeth, changes in bone levels, and problems around tooth roots. Dr. Rudat recommends images based on your dental history, current findings, and individual needs.
Comprehensive vs. Periodic
What is a comprehensive dental exam?
A comprehensive dental exam establishes a detailed picture of your oral health. It typically includes an evaluation of your teeth, gums, bite, existing dental work, health history, and diagnostic images when appropriate.
A periodic exam is the examination performed during your ongoing preventive visits. Dr. Rudat compares what she sees with previous findings and watches for changes that may need attention.
If you're new to the practice, our new patient experience explains what to expect when establishing care with Dr. Rudat.
How Often
How often should you go to the dentist?
There isn't one schedule that's right for every patient. How often you need an exam depends on your oral health, history of cavities and gum disease, existing dental work, medications, and other individual risk factors.
Many patients are seen on a regular preventive schedule, while someone with active or previously treated gum disease, frequent decay, dry mouth, or other risk factors may benefit from more frequent visits.
X-rays also follow an individual schedule rather than an automatic calendar. Dr. Rudat recommends them when they're clinically appropriate based on your history, risk, and what she finds during your exam.
Cost
What does a dental exam cost?
The cost of a dental exam depends on the type of exam you need and whether X-rays or other diagnostic images are necessary.
If you have dental insurance, your out-of-pocket cost depends on your individual plan and benefits. Our team can help you understand your coverage and expected cost before your visit.
If you're paying without insurance, we'll explain the applicable fees before treatment so you know what to expect. You can also learn more about payment options on our fees and membership page .
Why It Matters
Small problems are easier to manage when they're found early.
Cavities, gum disease, worn dental work, and other oral health problems don't always hurt when they first begin. Regular exams give Dr. Rudat an opportunity to identify changes before symptoms are the reason you come in.
That doesn't mean every finding needs immediate treatment. Sometimes the right decision is to treat something early. Other times it's to document it, watch it, and compare it at your next visit.
That's one advantage of seeing the same dentist over time: Dr. Rudat isn't evaluating a single snapshot. She can compare today's exam with what she's seen before and recommend care based on how your mouth is actually changing.
Why Dr. Marta
Why patients choose Dr. Marta Rudat
for dental exams and checkups.
A good dental exam is more than looking for cavities. Dr. Marta takes the time to look at your teeth, gums, bite, and existing dental work together, so the visit is about understanding your overall oral health, not simply finding something to fix.
She has practiced in Tustin, CA, for more than 15 years, and many of her patients have been with her long enough for their dental history to become part of the exam. That continuity makes it easier to recognize what is new, what has changed, and what has remained stable.
What patients mention most is that she doesn't rush. There is time to ask questions, understand what she sees, and talk through whether something needs treatment now or simply needs to be watched.
The goal isn't to find more dentistry to do. It's to keep an accurate picture of your oral health over time, address problems when they need attention, and help you preserve healthy teeth for as long as possible.
Dr. Marta Rudat, DDS
Frequently Asked
Dental exam
questions answered.
What happens during a dental exam?
Dr. Rudat checks every tooth for decay, cracks, and wear, measures your gums, evaluates your bite, inspects your existing dental work, and screens for oral cancer. Digital X-rays are taken when you’re due. She then goes over what she found with you, with the images and the chart on screen.
How long does a dental exam take?
A periodic exam at a regular six-month visit takes about 20 minutes, and with the cleaning the whole appointment runs about an hour. A comprehensive new-patient exam takes longer, about 90 minutes total, because it includes a full set of images and time to go through everything.
How much is a dental exam without insurance?
At our Tustin office, exams run $100 to $400 depending on what’s included. A complete new patient visit with the exam, X-rays, and cleaning typically comes to $200 to $400, and our membership plan covers all routine exams and X-rays for a flat rate.
How often should I have a dental exam?
There isn’t one interval that’s right for everyone. For adults, research supports setting the timing of dental checkups according to individual risk rather than automatically requiring an exam every six months. Your history of cavities, gum disease, existing dental work, medications, and other risk factors can affect how often you should be examined.
Can I have a cavity even if my tooth doesn’t hurt?
Yes. Tooth decay can be present before it causes noticeable symptoms. Modern caries diagnosis is designed to identify lesions at earlier stages, when disease may sometimes be managed without immediately placing a restoration.
That is one reason an exam can identify a problem you haven’t felt yourself.
Why does the dentist measure my gums?
Periodontal probing helps evaluate the tissues supporting your teeth. Measurements such as probing depth, along with findings such as bleeding and attachment changes, provide information used to diagnose and monitor periodontal disease.
A 2025 systematic review still identified the manual periodontal probe as the contemporary clinical reference against which alternative assessment methods are evaluated.
Do I need a cleaning every time I have an exam?
Not necessarily for the same scientific reason or on exactly the same schedule. An exam evaluates oral health; a cleaning removes plaque, calculus, and staining.
In healthy adults without severe periodontitis, a Cochrane review found little or no difference in gingivitis, probing depths, or oral-health-related quality of life between routinely scheduled six- or 12-month scaling and polishing and no scheduled scale-and-polish over two to three years. That does not mean cleanings are unnecessary; it means frequency should reflect the patient’s periodontal needs rather than an automatic schedule.
I’m anxious about dental exams. Is that common?
Yes. Dental anxiety is common and can lead people to postpone or avoid dental care. Research also shows an association between greater dental anxiety and greater perceived pain during dental treatment.
Tell the dental team before the exam if you’re anxious. Behavioral and communication-based approaches are among the strategies studied for helping patients manage dental anxiety.
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If it's been six months, or six years, the next step is the same one-hour appointment.
