The six-month visit that keeps everything else on this website from becoming necessary. Exam, X-rays, cleaning and an honest conversation, one block from the streetcar.
Family Dental Care Missouri provides dental exams, digital X-rays, professional cleanings and oral cancer screening at 1010 Walnut St, Suite 280, downtown Kansas City. New patients without insurance: $149 exam with X-rays. Open Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Call (816) 439-7715.
Reviewed by Dr. Navkiran Warya, DDS - August 2026
What is includedA checkup here is more than a quick look and a polish. The exam covers every tooth surface, existing fillings and crowns, your gums, your bite, and the soft tissue of your mouth, including an oral cancer screening, which takes two minutes and is the part of the visit most likely to matter if it ever finds something. Digital X-rays show what looking cannot: decay between teeth, infection at the roots, and bone levels around the teeth.
The cleaning that follows removes the plaque and tartar that brushing at home cannot, and the visit ends with the part patients value most: a plain-language summary of what we found, what needs attention now, what can wait and be watched, and what it will cost. If the exam shows healthy teeth and gums, we say exactly that.
| Part of the visit | What it is for | Roughly how long |
|---|---|---|
| Full-mouth exam | Every tooth, filling, crown, your gums and your bite | 10-15 minutes |
| Digital X-rays | Decay between teeth, root infection, bone levels | 5-10 minutes |
| Oral cancer screening | Soft tissue check of cheeks, tongue, palate and throat | 2 minutes |
| Professional cleaning | Plaque and tartar above and just below the gumline | 20-30 minutes |
| Findings and plan | What we found, what it costs, what can wait | 5-10 minutes |
Preventive care is the cheapest dentistry there is, and the six-month interval is where the economics work. A cavity caught at a checkup is a small filling. The same cavity left for two years can mean root canal treatment and a crown, at many times the cost and none of the comfort. Early gum inflammation reverses with a cleaning and better home care; established gum disease needs treatment for life. The checkup exists to keep you on the cheap side of that line.
Children ride the same schedule, and bringing the whole family in one block of appointments is normal here. Fluoride and sealants are offered when they genuinely help, and a child's first visits are kept short and easy so the habit sticks. Details are on the children's dentistry page.
Fitting a work dayThe office is at 1010 Walnut Street, Suite 280, in the middle of the downtown loop, one block east of the fare-free KC Streetcar on Main Street and a short walk from the offices around 10th and Walnut. A routine cleaning for healthy gums fits inside an hour, morning slots from 8:00am let you be at your desk before the day picks up, and the front desk runs the schedule to time because most of our patients are on a clock. Costs are confirmed before treatment, and claims are filed for you if you have insurance.
For most adults and children, every six months. That interval exists because tartar rebuilds and small cavities grow on roughly that timescale, so six-month visits keep problems at the small and inexpensive stage. Some patients need a different rhythm: a history of gum disease, diabetes, smoking or heavy tartar build-up can mean three or four month intervals for a while. We recommend an interval based on your mouth, not a fixed rule. Call (816) 439-7715.
Nothing to dread. The first visit is an exam, X-rays and an honest conversation, not a lecture. We look at every tooth, your gums, your bite and the soft tissue, explain what we find in plain language, and agree an order of priority if anything needs work, starting with what actually matters. Many patients who have stayed away for years need far less than they feared. Call (816) 439-7715.
Digital dental X-rays take a few minutes and use very low radiation doses, a fraction of what you receive from ordinary background sources over a few days. We take them because most early decay, bone loss and infection simply cannot be seen by looking, and finding those early is the whole point of a checkup. How often you need them depends on your risk, not a fixed schedule. Call (816) 439-7715.
For new patients without insurance, the $149 new patient special covers the full exam, all necessary X-rays and a treatment discussion, with the cleaning priced separately once we know which type of cleaning your gums actually need. That order matters, because quoting one flat cleaning price before an exam is how practices surprise people with bills. Every cost is stated before treatment begins. Call (816) 439-7715.
A regular cleaning removes plaque and tartar from the visible tooth surfaces and just below the gumline, and it is what healthy gums need twice a year. A deep cleaning, called scaling and root planing, goes further below the gumline to treat established gum disease, is usually done in sections with local anesthetic, and is a treatment rather than maintenance. The exam tells us which one your mouth needs. Call (816) 439-7715.
Usually, yes. A routine cleaning and check for a patient with healthy gums fits inside an hour, and being one block from the streetcar and a short walk from most downtown offices means the round trip is realistic in a lunch break. Book the time you need in advance and tell the front desk you are on a work-day clock, and we will run to time. Call (816) 439-7715.