Regular dental checkups help you stay on top of your oral health and catch problems while they’re small and easily treatable. By going to the dentist every six months, as the American Dental Association recommends, you can make sure that you’re only going in for a checkup. Skip those routine appointments, and you may be spending a lot more time and money at the dentist’s office to fix a problem you and your dentist could’ve stopped in its tracks.
Watch for Danger
Your dentist is trained to look for trouble and spot early warning signs inside your mouth. Below, we’ve listed some of the things your dentist is on the lookout for.
Plaque, Tartar, and Cavities
The initial buildups are known as plaque; plaque gets harder to remove the longer it remains. As plaque builds up, it hardens and turns into tartar. Tartar, for its part in the process, damages teeth, eroding and punching holes in your formerly-pearly whites. This damage is known as a cavity, and once you’ve developed one of those or a few, it’s going to take more than one visit to the dentist to treat the issue. Visit the dentist regularly, and hopefully you won’t ever have to have a conversation about fillings.
Gum Disease
As plaque and tartar build up, tooth damage and decay aren’t the only things you have to worry about. These buildups can also erode gum tissue by triggering an infection where the gum connects to the tooth. The infection causes the gum to pull away, and more and more of each tooth becomes exposed. If gum disease progresses far enough, the bone holding a tooth in place—now exposed—begins to break down. From here, teeth begin to loosen and fall out.
X-Rays
During every dental checkup, your teeth and jaw bone get x-rayed. These x-rays provide your dentist with a beneath-the-surface view, allowing them to diagnose issues that may have been invisible otherwise. Perhaps the most common issue dentists come across is that of impacted teeth. These are teeth that are growing, but have become trapped beneath the gum line. This is a common occurrence with wisdom teeth.
Provide Expert Care
You have the folks worried to go to the dentist because of anxieties they suffer, or because their teeth are in bad shape and they fear what a dentist will find. If this sounds like you, remember: the longer you wait, the harder issues become to treat. But there’s another group that makes a habit of putting their dentist appointment off year after year—the folks who practice regular dental hygiene. They brush and floss in the morning, at night, and even after meals. In their minds, they’ve got everything under control. There’s nothing for a dentist to find, so why go find a dentist?
As we said earlier, even the most diligent brushers and flossers will have areas they can’t reach. Dentists can hone in on these areas and help you reach an unprecedented level of dental hygiene. After all, there’s no cleaning like a professional dental cleaning.
Save Money
Do you want to know the cheapest service you can undergo at a dentist’s office? A checkup and cleaning. After that, costs can add up quickly. So why wait until you need a filling, a tooth replacement, or a root canal? Your dentist can take care of potential issues right there during your checkup for no extra charge.
Schedule your dental checkup at
Smile On Dental Salon & Sleep Apnea Center in Chicago, IL now, and don’t forget to make an appointment for six months later before you head home.
