Seven Real Benefits Of Regular Dental Check-ups
Consistent six monthly dental checks at our Ipswich dental practice can only be a good thing for your oral health.
While most people do visit their dentist regularly for an oral examination, this isn’t always the case. Some patients become so nervous about their visit that they cancel or call us to put it back a bit (sometimes repeating this several times). Others may be forced to miss a checkup due to an illness or important meeting that can’t be re-arranged. This is understandable but sometimes people don’t reschedule at the same time and end up forgetting to rearrange their appointment and waiting a year or more between their checkups.
While you might be lucky if you leave longer gaps between visits, this won’t necessarily be the case and a number of problems can arise if you do this. In today’s blog then, we are taking a look at why it is important not to skip a check up at the Foxhall Dental Practice in order to maintain healthy teeth and gums.
- Early detection of problems – While we all hope that no issues are found, where they exist it is far better to treat them as early as possible. By doing this, we can usually retain as much of your natural tooth as possible; for example a small filling may be needed if detected early, with a larger one or even a crown being required if decay is left to worsen. Where a tooth has started to crack, treating it early could prevent the tooth from breaking more significantly if left longer.
- Gum disease prevention – As with tooth decay, detecting early signs of gum disease allows us to prevent this from developing into periodontitis, a particularly aggressive form of gum disease that can not only produce uncomfortable symptoms but may lead to tooth loss. If we detect the initial signs of gingivitis, some simple improvements in the way that you clean your teeth and gums might be all that is needed to reverse this. We may also recommend that you visit our dental hygienist to have your teeth professionally cleaned.
- Oral cancer detection – This especially applies if you miss a number of checkups and go a long time between them. One of our roles is to observe any potentially worrying signs within the oral cavity. It has to be stated that we are not doctors and can’t diagnose the cause of things like lesions and lumps etc that we find. What we can do though is to see these during your check up, and, where we feel it appropriate, refer you to your GP for further investigation. There may well be other more innocuous causes, but if it does turn out to be oral cancer, it is usually far more treatable early on and causes less problems for you too hopefully.
- Medical issues detection – As with oral cancer detection, we are in an excellent position to see changes within your mouth over a period of time. Sometimes medical issues can cause symptoms within the mouth. An example of this might be where persistent gum disease, dry mouth or oral thrush are present, this could indicate that you may have diabetes and we will recommend that you see your GP as soon as possible if this is the case. Your dental checkups at our Ipswich practice then may not only improve your oral health but your general health too.
- Teeth grinding – When we look into your mouth, we can see if your teeth are starting to become worn down. This is a sign that you might be grinding them when you sleep. Many people that do this are completely unaware of it and the damage that it can do to their teeth. They may also find that they have painful or clicking jaws too, a condition known as TMJ (Temporomandibular disorder ). We may be able to recommend a mouth guard to help prevent this or we may refer you to your GP to see if they can offer help with the stress that often causes this issue.
- Saving you money – In relation to our first point, not only does early intervention mean that we can treat you in a more minimal way, but this will very likely save you money too. A tooth that can be restored can last you for years. Waiting until the problem becomes much bigger may mean that you require more expensive treatments whether this be a crown to restore a tooth that is badly damaged or decayed, or a dental implant to replace a tooth that has to be extracted. Regular checkups can certainly save you money in the long run.
- Personal (and accurate) service – There is nothing like the personal touch. Our team of highly trained dentists can answer your questions about any dental issues that you might be experiencing, or offer advice on what to expect from a treatment. Too often these days, people’s first inclination is to research this online. While there is good information available, there is also a lot of bad and sometimes deliberately false information too. Unfortunately, a small number of people even attempt to carry out dental procedures themselves following this advice; usually with disastrous results.
Perhaps you already come to see us regularly and if you do, that’s great. If you are more irregular though, you might be losing out on the benefits of seeing your dentist more often. If you fall into this group, why not call us today to get your check up appointments back on track? You can do this by phoning the Foxhall Dental Practice on 01473 258396. and speaking to our friendly reception team.