Top Benefits of Routine Dental Examinations

Though brushing and flossing twice a day are essential to protecting your dental health, they might not be enough in the long run. Regular dental visits are an often underappreciated practice that is crucial to maintaining proper oral hygiene.

In fact, approximately 100 million Americans do not visit a dentist annually. As a result, they suffer from various dental problems such as tooth erosion, swelling gums, loose teeth, discolored teeth, cracked teeth, cavities, and gum infections.

How Routine Dental Checkups Can Improve Your Oral Health

Prevents Tartar, Plaque, and Cavities

Even if you brush diligently every day, there are some hard-to-reach areas your toothbrush and dental floss can miss. Thus, regular dental cleanup is essential to controlling plaque buildup. If left alone, plaque can solidify into tartar, making it very difficult to remove without professional help. Tartar destroys your teeth and forms holes that result in cavities.

You only experience toothache after your tooth has started decaying. So putting off dental care until you experience tooth pain or discomfort can be a huge mistake. Moreover, a regular checkup can help you save money in the long run since cleanup is much cheaper than dental fillings.

Detection of Oral Cancer

If it’s not detected in the early stages, oral cancer can be dangerous and even lead to death in some extreme cases. Since dentists are well-versed in recognizing the symptoms of early-stage oral cancer, periodic dental visits are crucial for early diagnosis and treatment.

Detecting Underlying Concerns

During these routine checkups, dentists also recommend X-rays once every year. X-rays help dentists gain insight into what is actually causing your dental problems. These x-rays can detect bone loss and impacted teeth, allowing treatment to begin as soon as possible. These checkups also help catch deep gum pockets that patients cannot detect on their own. Furthermore, oral cysts and tumors can only be identified by x-rays.

Identifying Abnormal Nodes

Dentists also examine the head, neck, and lymph nodes for abnormalities, lumps, or swelling. After finding the abnormality, the dentist guides the patients to the appropriate medical professionals. This is only possible if you schedule regular checkups.

Keeping Bad Habits in Check

Some people think brushing their teeth rigorously will keep them healthy. However, in reality, overbrushing your teeth can be equally harmful since this can affect the gum and result in bleeding.

Many people might not be aware that the steps they’re taking to protect their oral health are actually adversely affecting it. Some harmful habits include drinking coffee and red wine, smoking, eating hard or sticky sweets, biting nails, clenching your jaws too hard, chewing ice, and many more. During routine checkups, your dentist might be able to help you correct these behaviors.

Gum Diseases

Plaque and tartar buildup erodes the gum tissues and can lead to tooth decay if an infection develops in the gumline. If left untreated, the tissue attached to the gums and teeth breaks down, causing gingivitis, which leads to swelling, soreness, and bleeding of the gums.

Though there are several procedures to treat this, including tooth extraction, all of them involve several consecutive visits to the dentist and cost a lot of money. Instead, you could easily avoid this problem and save time and money by investing in regular checkups.

Protecting Your Smile

Your smile has the power to brighten up someone’s day. So nothing should stop you from smiling, even crooked, discolored, chipped, cracked, or missing teeth. Cosmetic dental procedures like teeth whitening help improve your smile and make you feel better about yourself. During routine dental checkups, your dentist will be able to identify and treat dental conditions before they become major problems, thus protecting the brightness of your smile all year round.

Oral Hygiene Education

Maintaining good oral health requires you to put in some effort, even at home. Regular check-ins give dentists the opportunity to offer patients advice and tips to maintain their dental hygiene outside of these visits. This is also the best time to ask your dentist about any oral health questions you might have.

Detecting Sleep Problems

Your dentist is probably not the first person you think of when you’re having problems with sleeping. However, many people who struggle with sleeping grind their teeth or suffer from sleep apnea. If you’re one of them, your dentist can prescribe sleep guards or other dental solutions to help you sleep better.

Financial Benefits

According to the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, teeth implants can be quite expensive. You can easily avoid the expense of these dental treatments by having regular checkups, which are significantly cheaper in the long run.

Setting a Good Example

Parents might not realize it, but children tend to mimic the adults around them and pick up their habits. Therefore, as parents, you must strive to be the person you want your kids to be. When you visit the dentist regularly and emphasize the importance of oral health in everyday life, your kids also grow up to value dental hygiene throughout their lives. Also, routine dental visits allow children to get familiar with the dentist’s office, which in turn helps them overcome their fear of dentists.

Building a Good Relationship with Your Dentist

Dentists play a crucial role in people’s lives. Thus, it is necessary to establish a good relationship with them. Regular visits to the dentist ensure good communication with the dentist, which in turn helps you learn more about oral health. This way, your dentist also gets familiar with your oral health history and can quickly figure out when something is out of place, ensuring you get the right treatment before the problem worsens.

Increased Self-Esteem

Everyone admires people who can smile easily because they exude positive energy. And this is exactly what happens after a good dental cleaning session. With your teeth clean and in excellent condition, your confidence level rises significantly, and you find yourself smiling unconsciously. Clearly, regular dental examinations are not just great for your teeth but also for your mental and emotional health.

Overall Wellbeing

Many diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, can be linked to poor oral hygiene. As such, maintaining good oral health with the help of periodic dental visits can benefit your overall health too.

As a part of our routine dental checkups, Clay & Associates DDS, PLC offers routine cleaning, polishing, and restorative dental treatments. Our experts also do oral cancer screenings, treat abscessed teeth, and clean around the gums to prevent infection. If you’re looking for professional dental services in Fort Dodge, Iowa, book an appointment today.