Keeping your teeth strong and healthy certainly seems easy enough. After all, if you brush, floss, and consume nutritious foods, you should be able to avoid cavities, gum disease, and many other oral health issues. Your basic oral hygiene, however, isn’t complete without the addition of twice yearly check-ups. With thorough cleanings and comprehensive exams, your family dentist can help you maintain a bright, beautiful smile for many years to come. You’ll also save tons of money.
1. Catch And Address Minor Issues Early On
Some of the most pervasive and dangerous oral health issues are difficult for people to detect by themselves, particularly in their developmental stages. These include gum irritation and gum infections in inconspicuous places, stress fractures, developing caries, disproportionate bite forces, and even painless mouth cancers among others. Despite continued diligence in brushing and flossing, you might have a number of potentially serious issues quietly blossoming unnoticed. Build-ups of plaque and tartar that are gradually weakening and undermining natural tooth structures could be forming on the back sides of your teeth, in-between your teeth, or along your gum-line.
These are all problems that a dentist will look for when inspecting your mouth during your once or twice-yearly visits. As with all progressive issues, identifying and addressing them early on is often the cheapest and easiest course. Rather than paying for dental implants to replace badly ravaged tooth structures, you can retain more of your natural teeth by having small-sized cavities cleaned and filled right away. With preventative care, dentists also have the opportunity to pinpoint unhealthy life habits that may be harming your oral health. Visiting a family dentist will give you the chance to learn more about your options in smoking cessation, the benefits of proper hydration, how to limit your sugar intake, and how to eat foods that actually strengthen and support tooth enamel.
2. A Dentist Can Help Bolster And Protect Your General Health
Your overall health suffers greatly whenever your dental health fails. Bacteria that’s allowed to proliferate in the mouth will eventually erode the underlying bone that supports your teeth. More importantly, it can also make its way into your bloodstream. Once this happens, severe tooth decay can cause systemic infections, place extraordinary stress on the heart and filter organs, and lead to a significant build-up of plaque in your arteries. There is a definite connection between tooth health and heart health. Regular dental care will enable you to sidestep the high costs and diminished life quality that comes with progressive heart disease and many other cardiovascular and general health issues.
3. Maintain An Attractive And Complete Smile The Easy And Inexpensive Way
Many consumers are paying tens of thousands of dollars for cosmetic tooth restoration. Whether these individuals need one or two crowns or entire smile replacements, they’re often paying the costs of negligence. Without routine dental visits, seemingly minor issues can lead to widespread tooth decay and eventual tooth loss. Sadly, tooth loss is usually a progressive issue. When the smile is incomplete, all of the remaining natural teeth must take on additional stress. This leads to cracks and stress fractures that allow harmful bacteria in.
Tooth loss can additionally diminish both your confidence and your overall social and professional marketability. Proactively preserving your smile is always less costly than restoring or replacing it. Come see us at Foutz Family Dentistry today to set up a preventative maintenance plan for everyone in your home.
