Scheduling an appointment with your dentist regularly provides you with every opportunity to ensure that your oral health is in a good state. Brushing, flossing, and making the proper dietary choices at home will certainly help, but consistent dental checkups remain necessary to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Our team at Olean Dental Studio has explained the numerous ways in which regular visits with our dentists in Port Charlotte, Florida can be beneficial.
Preventative Care
Cavities: When plaque build-up solidifies and transforms into tartar, it becomes extremely difficult to remove on your own. By setting up regular dental cleanings, you can prevent tartar from forming holes and eroding your teeth, which is what leads to cavities. Although your dentist can fill cavities and correct other dental issues, you can avoid these concerns with regular cleanings that eliminate plaque and tartar in their early stages.
Diseases: plaque and tartar build-up are also capable of eroding your mouth's gum tissues. Once tartar build-up creates an infection in an area where the gum is connected to the tooth, the gum will pull away from the tooth. The infection referred to as gingivitis, can progress and force the tissue, which keeps gums and teeth connected, to break down. At this phase, it escalates into gum disease and you will likely experience symptoms such as bleeding, swelling, or soreness within the mouth. Also, gum disease affects the bone that holds teeth in place, breaking it down as it did with the gum tissue. If you reach this point, you may notice your teeth beginning to loosen or completely fall out. You will require the expertise and treatment of a dental specialist to assist with this, so avoid it altogether by regularly visiting your dentist.
Oral cancer: oral cancer is a severe disease that can present itself in multiple ways and when it is not diagnosed, it can rapidly progress, becoming potentially life-threatening. An early-stage oral cancer diagnosis is generally a simple treatment for your dentist because he or she is trained to recognize the signs and symptoms. A regular dental checkup every six months gives your dentist a greater chance to spot oral cancer in its early stages and successfully treat it.
Bad breath: chronic bad breath can cause a condition known as halitosis, the result of consistently practicing poor oral hygiene habits. Rather than neglecting this issue or attempting to resolve it by yourself, regularly visit your dentist so that they can determine the source of the odor and how it can be treated. It could be a medical condition that requires immediate treatment.
Inflammation: patients become more vulnerable to aging and disease if they are experiencing inflammation in the mouth. Systemic inflammation seems to even be responsible for chronic health conditions that can impact your quality of life. By receiving proper care from your dentist through regular visits, you can sufficiently reduce oral inflammation and its effect on your health.
Issues detected by X-rays: another vital aspect of regularly visiting your dentist is receiving X-rays completed for your teeth and jawbone. These images let a dental professional understand what is occurring beneath the surfaces of your mouth and identify issues that might not be otherwise visible. Some concerns that can be discovered through X-rays are wisdom teeth (growing teeth that are blocked from progressing through the gum line), bone decay, swelling, cysts, or tumors. All of these worries can be quickly found with X-rays and then effectively treated by your dentist.
Head, neck, and lymph node examinations: below the jawline, your neck, jaw, and lymph nodes are found. During a routine dental appointment, your dentist can confirm if there is any swelling, lumps, or other abnormalities in this area. An abnormality can be indicative of a major health issue, like a type of cancer or other diseases, and after your dentist informs you of it, he or she will refer you to a qualified medical professional for further assistance.
Healthy Teeth and Gums
Our hygienists and dentists can clean parts of your smile that you can't reach with brushing and flossing, which allows him or her to catch issues before they materialize or at an early stage. Again, regular dental appointments provide your teeth with a detailed, professional cleaning that will help remove any build-up of plaque and tartar. Professional cleanings from the dentist keep your teeth and gums healthy.
Help Prevent Bad Habits for Your Oral Health
Several poor habits can create negative effects on your teeth and gums, including:
- Biting your nails (can chip teeth and affect your jaw to a large degree)
- Brushing your teeth with excessive force (can harm your teeth and irritate the gums)
- Grinding your teeth and clenching the jaw (can cause your teeth to chip or crack, in addition to muscle tenderness or joint discomfort)
- Chewing ice (because tooth enamel and ice are both crystals, pressing the two against each other will cause one to chip)
- Eating too many sugary snacks (increases your risk of oral bacteria and cavities)
- Smoking (stains teeth, causes gum and periodontal disease, gives you bad breath, reduces saliva flow, creates tooth decay, and puts you at risk of experiencing general health concerns)
- Drinking coffee and red wine (coffee and red wine can both stain your teeth as well, and adding sugar to the coffee only enhances your risk of tooth decay)
- Drinking carbonated beverages (too many carbonated drinks in your diet can easily erode your tooth enamel and produce bacteria)
- Avoiding the dentist (neglecting regular visits to your dentist only jeopardizes your oral health because you are missing an opportunity to receive early preventive care)
As you sit through a regular dental checkup, your dentist will check for any potential issues caused by these or other bad habits, treating them and informing you of lifestyle changes that can prevent any additional impact on your oral health.
Check On Previous Dental Work and Treatments
Regular dental appointments also afford your dentist opportunities to examine their previous work, including the following:
- Dental bridges (a permanent partial denture that replaces any lost teeth)
- Dental crowns (a cap that resembles a tooth and is custom-fitted over your natural tooth)
- Dental implants (a permanent dental appliance placed into the jawbone, replacing a missing tooth)
- Dental fillings (used on teeth that have experienced decay or fracture)
- Dental braces (orthodontic devices used to improve teeth alignment and biting issues)
- Dentures (complete or partial, dentures assist patients who have lost nearly all of their teeth, bringing back the ordinary function of their mouth)
- Retainers (dental devices that ensure teeth remain in their new position after the usage of braces)
- Mouthguards (used to protect the teeth and gums from external injury, specifically teeth grinding or bruxism during sleeping hours)
- Dental appliances for sleep apnea (devices used to help patients who suffer from sleep apnea, a condition in which the muscles surrounding the throat and tongue block airflow to the lungs during sleep)
Regularly visiting our dentists in Port Charlotte, Florida is beneficial to your oral health for numerous reasons, whether that is because of preventative care, early detection and treatment of an issue, the review of previous dental work, or useful advice that will help your teeth and gums remain healthy. For more information or to schedule a dental appointment of your own, contact our team at Olean Dental Studio.
