3 Reasons To Visit Your Dentist

Like most Americans, I am at fault of not visiting my dentist in Calabasas often enough. In fact almost 33% of Americans skipped the dentist entirely despite the encouragement to go at least twice a year. My personal anecdote is that the last time I visited the dentist was because my tooth had chipped.

I had a little piece of it and I made the appointment. In a stroke of luck I hadn’t chipped my tooth. A piece of plaque had broken off and my mouth was covered in it. The cleaning took almost a full hour and afterwards my mouth felt radically different. The plaque build up was the result of having not been to a dentist for almost 3 years. Had I waited longer it would have continued to let bacteria eat away at my teeth under the plaque, where I can’t brush. Fortunately there was no damage done… this time. Here’s 3 reasons why you should visit your dentist more often.

1. Clean Your Teeth Regularly

Even if you’re in perfect dental health you should visit your dentist for a regular cleaning. You can brush and floss and do everything you can do at home but it won’t be to the same level or of the same efficiency as the dentist doing it. Not only are the tools more specialized but you can’t get any cleaner than a professional taking care of it. In fact the cleaning is so good that most only recommend seeing them twice a year. Your own maintenance past that point is enough. Regular visits will also help you avoid long cleanings where a lot of work has to be done at one time.

2. Early detection

Like everything in the medical field early detection is an important key to maintaining our health, oral or otherwise. By visiting the dentist regularly and not just when a problem arises you can catch a cavity or other problem before it becomes a problem. By doing this you can reduce pain and even the costs of treatment because they don’t have to be as extensive. You can also keep an eye on any oral conditions you may already have that need to be monitored. Pain shouldn’t be the reason you go to the dentist. Pain is your body’s way of letting you know that there’s a problem. By going regularly you can catch the problem before it happens.

3. Gum disease

This could be lumped into early detection but it felt more serious and therefore it gets its own category. Gum disease is a very real thing that you might have to deal with. It can cause all manner of problems with your entire mouth and result in, decay of teeth, infection, and loss of gum tissue. The damage that’s caused by Gum disease can in some cases be either extremely difficult to reverse or even impossible. That plaque and bacteria on the visible enamel can grow and rot the tissue between the gums and tooth, causing decay. Eventually the teeth will fall out from lack of tissue and there won’t be any way to repair the damage. They can stop future damage but what’s done will have been done.

Conclusion

Going to the dentist regularly is more than just a ploy at vanity or because you need to have the whitest of teeth. You probably have very healthy teeth so you think you can just ignore making that appointment. A lot of people think this, including myself, but we’re wrong. You need to make these regular visits for more than just the way your teeth look but for your overall dental health. It’s like any other part of your mouth and it needs to be taken care like anything else. Find your dentist in Calabasas. or your hometown. Visit them and maintain your healthy teeth and gums.