It is advised to attend a dental examination and hygiene appointment, twice yearly for a number of reasons commonly associated with prevention and maintenance.
Your routine dental appointments typically involve assessment of the soft tissues (lips, cheeks, throat and tongue), teeth, gums, oral hygiene and oral health education.
Each day plaque (layer of soft bacteria) accumulates on our teeth and gums. This eventually calcifies into a hard layer. Removing this layer effectively will prevent the onset of dental disease and maintain healthy teeth and gums. To ensure your oral hygiene technique remains effective, and to maintain optimal health, it is important to take a proactive approach and seek professional advice on effective oral hygiene methods. Your Dental team will provide instruction, and education to share any tips and tricks with you to ensure you are on the right path to achieving healthy gums and improve your overall oral health.
Attending your Dental examinations frequently provides your Dental team the opportunity for early detection of any potential dental disease. Tooth decay and gum disease can develop quickly, once detected early, you will have more options to treat and manage any issues that arise. If dental disease is left untreated, you may be left with less ideal options and usually more comprehensive treatment when this could have been avoided or managed with a more conservative and cost-effective approach. Even healthy teeth eventually craze and crack. Regular check ups are crucial as your dentist can advise on pro-active and preventative treatments.
Decay and gum disease can remain undetected as symptoms don’t always arise, so you may be completely unaware of any decay or inflammation forming. It is important to understand that gum disease progression can eventually lead to tooth loss if left untreated. Some common signs of gum disease to be aware of include: bleeding, redness and swelling of the gums. There is generally minimal to no pain associated with gum disease, but the good news is, it’s largely preventable and, in some cases, reversible. So, when detected early, treatment and management will be a smoother process.
The teeth and gums are under constant chemical (sugar, acid) and bio-mechanical (chewing and biting) attack. They need our help to survive 90 years!
So, as a rule of thumb, everyone over the age of 5 years old, should see a dentist twice a year.
