Keep them bright with regular teeth cleaning checkups
We here at Eureka Dental want to extend a sincere thank you to all of our clients, friends and followers. It means a great deal to our team when you take the time to read our blog posts. We understand that busy lives don’t leave much spare time, and spending it reading about dental themes doesn’t even sound appealing to dentists.
This is why we try hard to connect a theme or study that will resonate. After thousands of patients, a veteran dentist can offer some of the most trustworthy tips on surviving a lifetime of oral wear and tear.
The Best Advice We Can Give
Eureka’s team of dentists believes strongly in the importance of a checkup and cleaning every six months. We want to use this blog to outline why this simple commitment should resonate with everyone.
We can usually group patients into two groups: those who are diligent with dental checkups and those who wait for a problem to manifest. If you are a member of the latter group, know that you are not alone. Sometimes it takes a painful epiphany (like an abscess!) to make you de-prioritize everything else and run to the dentist.
Preventing Cavities
The challenge with avoiding checkups and cleanings every six months is that very small issues evolve into very expensive and painful problems. No matter how diligent you are at brushing and flossing, the buildup of plaque can create potential cavities, particularly in hard to reach areas between teeth and gums. Regular checkups and cleanings every six months greatly reduce the development of cavities.
Preventing Expensive Repairs
Cavities, especially in the early stages, are easily treatable. But without regular checkups, an unseen cavity will continue to decay. This decay can often occur largely inside the tooth, unnoticeable to the eye. But as the decay makes its way to the interior of your tooth, the chance of painful and expensive problems and repairs skyrockets. A regular checkup and cleaning is your best chance of locating and filling a simple cavity. Otherwise, the decay can often only be resolved by extracting the tooth, or by performing a root canal and installing a crown. The loss of a tooth because of an untreated cavity is an all-too-familiar occurrence that is very preventable. Further, the cost to repair one tooth via a root canal and crown could have paid for many regular cleanings!
Preventing Tooth Loss
Another long term consequence of delayed cleanings and checkups is gum disease. Gum disease starts with the build up of plaque and will move deeper down the tooth, invisible to you because it is covered up by your gums. The hardened deposits and bacterial growth begin to break down the connective tissue and supporting bone for your teeth, and tooth loss results. A regular checkup can identify early stages of gum disease, and a cleaning can remove the buildup before more permanent damage is caused.
Save Money
Regardless of your oral and overall health, there is one driving reason that changes people from reactive to proactive: Money. The simple fact is that a six month cleaning can prevent plaque from evolving into major issues. A six month checkup can identify developing cavities and early stage gum disease, allowing you to treat them with a filling or deep cleaning. Not only can you save yourself from painful and long-term damage to your teeth and gums, but you can save several thousand dollars in repairs. Just one long delay can result in numerous cavities, root canals, crowns and more.
Schedule your next cleaning appointment now and let’s get you proactive!