Getting a check-up at Panama City Dental Studio means a thorough cleaning, along with some extras. New technology is giving this office a way to catch problems before they get out of hand. That includes finding out whether your teeth could be causing other health problems.

Tabitha Hanson, a registered dental hygienist, said, "In the last couple of years the dental profession has gone together with the medical profession. Systemic and oral are actually linked together. Having bad oral habits can actually cause you to have heart disease, low birth weight in babies, diabetes can be increased and can actually kill you."

It all comes down to what you've probably been taught all your life, brush and floss, so it might surprise you to know 90 percent of Americans don't floss.

Some people don't floss because they don't know how to floss correctly.

If you sit at work every day drinking sodas or anything sugary, or you like to have that occasional candy bar, you need to take precautions there.

"If you're eating or drinking a lot of sweets, then you should rinse your mouth after everything. If you drink a soda you need to rinse your mouth out with a glass of water. If you eat a candy bar, you need to rinse your mouth out with a glass of water."

If you have a toothbrush available you should brush your teeth, but if that is not available to you, mouthwash. Alcohol free mouthwashes are the best. Not a big fan of alcohol mouth washes? They increase the chance of oral cancer, so we stay away from them.

Speaking of oral cancer. That's one of the screenings hygienists do at this office. Now they have a new tool called the velscope that can detect oral cancer even before you can see it.

"The velscope is a magnification light that illuminates anything inside the mouth, tells us if the patient has any abnormalities starting. Anything we can't see with the naked eye, the light will illuminate it black so we can see it visually without having to go in and just guess."

And there's a new, painless way to find out whether you have any of those dreaded cavities.

"Diagadent, it's a cavity finder. We'll take it inside the mouth, place it on top of the tooth.. If the tooth has decay it will beep, the louder the beep of course the stronger the decay, the deeper the decay."

If you're already in trouble when it comes to gum disease, there's a new treatment that can actually help re-grow bones. It's a no stitch, no cut, no pain laser surgery. It's amazing technology that has even been proven to regenerate bone.