Why Visit A Family Dentist
Is daily brushing and flossing a part of the normal routine in your household for everyone, but you haven’t made it a habit to keep routine visits scheduled with your family dentist? Does this sound like your family? You may be surprised to find out that seeing a dentist regularly is critically important to maintaining good oral health. Regular dental visits are important not just for keeping your teeth clean and smile bright, but for prevention of diseases of the gums, teeth, and tissues in the mouth. Below is more information on the preventive care that happens at a regular visit to your family dentist and why keeping regular visits scheduled is important for you and your family members’ oral health.
A Regular Routine Visit to The Family Dentist
The most important part of a regular visit to a family dentist is the simple preventive care procedures that occur. You may not even realize that the small steps the dentist performs in that quick one-hour visit have such a big impact on maintaining your oral and overall health. The dentist is performing procedures that are critically important to preventing the development of diseases and infection in your mouth. The following steps are common parts of a routine dental visit that are important preventive care procedures:
- Oral exam: During the oral exam your family dentist is looking for signs or symptoms of oral health problems including gum disease, tooth decay, or oral cancer. The early detection of any of these problems is important to minimizing future risk and need for more invasive procedures. For example, catching gum disease early is important because it is one of the leading causes of tooth loss, and it can lead to even greater health problems like heart disease and stroke. During the oral exam your dentist will look around your mouth using a tool, a mirror, and potentially their fingers.
- X-rays: X-rays don’t commonly occur at every visit, but they are an important part of preventive oral care. X-rays help your dentist identify problems in the mouth that they may not be able to see with their eyes during the oral exam.
- Professional cleaning: Even if you brush and floss at home regularly, a professional cleaning is more thorough and gets rid of plaque buildup. Plus, the cleaning just feels good and you’ll leave with a bright and shining smile.
Scheduling Regular Visits
It is recommended that both children and adults have a professional dental cleaning and a checkup every six months. When you are considering whether or not to schedule a routine visit to the family dentist for you or your child, remember that it is much easier to prevent health problems than to repair them. Even if you take great care of your teeth at home, health problems can arise that can lead to bone loss, gum disease, and infections. If you are interested in other available procedures at your next visit, you should contact your dentist. Your family dentist will most likely focus on providing services that can help prevent oral health problems including but not limited to: fluoride treatments, teeth cleanings, tooth decay prevention, and early detection of oral
diseases.
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