At 1425 Market St. Suite 100, a new patient can book a 90-minute dental exam that starts with health history and current concerns before treatment is planned.
Icon Dental's Downtown Denver practice promotes a broader evaluation of oral health. The exam covers teeth and gums, then moves to bite alignment, jaw function and airway health. Its stated aim is to connect clinical findings with jaw soreness, headaches, fatigue, disrupted sleep and snoring.
Dr. Nazeli Tarjan, DDS, and Dr. Brandon Nguyen, DDS, lead the evaluations. Their root-cause approach asks why a problem developed instead of treating symptoms in isolation.
The National Academy of Medicine recommends a standardized history and brief physical examination for initial complaints involving the jaw, face or head, including checks of mouth opening, joint sounds and tenderness in the jaw muscles and joints.
What the expanded examination covers
Each evaluation begins with the patient's health history, current concerns and goals. The Icon dental team then checks bone support and gum health. It reviews periodontal conditions, bite alignment and tooth structure. Existing restorations are examined, as are soft tissues, including through an oral cancer screening.
Digital dental X-rays help inspect areas between teeth and beneath the gumline. That gives the team information a visual check alone may miss.
Bite evaluation and TMJ assessment are standard parts of the exam. Icon Dental says the checks can reveal misalignment or jaw-joint issues associated with tooth wear and cracking. The practice also links those findings with headaches, facial tension and jaw soreness.
For patients with jaw, face or head complaints, the National Academy guidance identifies mouth-opening range, joint sounds and palpation of the temporomandibular joints and chewing muscles as relevant elements of an initial assessment.
Airway and sleep questions are included to connect oral findings with breathing and rest patterns. They are screening questions, not a diagnosis.
Symptoms resembling temporomandibular disorders can have causes beyond the teeth or jaw joint. Clinical guidance notes that conditions such as malignant tumors and bony ankylosis may require referral to an appropriately qualified medical specialist when warning signs are present.
This approach resembles structured risk assessment more than a quick cavity check. It differs from facility-focused dental developments such as an earlier showroom report. Here, the central subject is the patient's examination and treatment planning.
Why patients may seek a fuller assessment
Icon Dental identifies gaps that can follow a standard checkup. Jaw pain or morning headaches may go unconnected to bite or joint function. Fatigue and poor sleep may receive no dental follow-up.
Early gum disease can develop without noticeable pain. So can interproximal cavities, oral cancer and sleep apnea.
An oral examination can flag an area that needs further evaluation, but it is not itself a diagnostic test for cancer. A suspicious finding does not confirm the disease. A normal examination cannot guarantee that cancer is absent.
The National Cancer Institute has stated that there is still no standard routine oral-cancer screening test proven to reduce mortality.
The practice says early identification can make decay and gum disease less invasive and less costly to treat. It also says its root-cause model is intended to reduce repeated repairs by addressing contributing factors instead of focusing only on a damaged tooth.
A plan rather than a rushed appointment
Patients receive a prioritized written treatment plan explained in plain language and without pressure. Icon Dental says its comprehensive checkups and dental exams are particularly intended for people new to Denver, those who have delayed care and individuals dealing with chronic jaw pain, headaches or sleep concerns.
The practice offers a 90-minute new patient exam through its Downtown Denver office at 1425 Market St. Suite 100, Denver, CO 80202. Appointments can be arranged at (720) 645-2153 or info@icondentaldenver.com, and details are available at https://icondentaldenver.com/dental-exam-denver/.
In a subsequent public-relations description dated October 5, 2026, Icon Dental said its separate TMJ and sleep-dentistry program includes 90-minute initial visits covering bite, jaw function, airway and sleep. The description also lists TMJ/TMD therapy, sleep-apnea evaluation, oral appliances, myofunctional therapy and therapeutic botulinum toxin. Those details are claims by the practice and do not independently establish the clinical effectiveness of the listed approaches.
The same publication reported Icon Dental's claims of membership in the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and collaboration with the Vivos Institute. Independent confirmation of those claims was not found in the available results.
No confirmed independent update was found concerning regulatory action, litigation or other official consequences directly connected with Icon Dental's expanded examination model. The October 5 program announcement is therefore a description of the practice's stated plans, not evidence of an external clinical or regulatory endorsement.
