Adulthood is a time where your decisions are finally yours and yours alone. There’s no one who can tell you where to go or what to do (except your boss, spouse, children, mom, dad, etc.) and unfortunately your dentist. Though it is easy for adults to miss regular dentist trips, everyone should be going twice a year. The appointments are inconvenient to make, you have to wait in a waiting room reading 5-year-old magazines just for someone to stick their hands in your mouth but regardless of all the unpleasantness you’re oral and heart health will thank you for making the bi-annual trip.
Regular dental check-ups first and foremost keep your teeth, gums, and whole mouth healthy. The regular cleanings will improve the look and feel of your teeth as well as get rid of any bad morning breath that’s been haunting you or your spouse every day. Your dentist will also be able to regularly check for oral health conditions that may lead to tooth decay or gum diseases. Plaque is something we hear about often on toothpaste and Listerine commercials, but it isn’t just a menacing cartoon as seen on TV. If you allow the plaque on your teeth to build up it becomes tartar or mineralized plaque. This is nearly impossible to eliminate by yourself and you would need to book multiple sessions with your dentist to have your teeth properly cleaned.
If you are susceptible to cavities your dentist may be able to help you eliminate the problem if and when you are visiting the dentist’s office twice a year. Dry mouth, improper tooth positioning, irritating tooth fillings, impacted wisdom teeth, and missing teeth may be identified and corrected by your dentist in order to hinder the development of cavities. Early identification of these problems will save you both a lot of pain and a lot of money as well. If a decayed tooth or a cavity is not found early enough it will create an abscess in your mouth. This means that puss will start to build up in your gums, this puss can lead to severe infections and diseases. In some cases, the abscess will lead to sepsis, an infection throughout the entire body, and can be potentially fatal. Non-surgical methods like deep scaling or cleaning are enough to treat mild to moderate forms of gum disease. But advanced gum diseases will need surgery. In the case of oral cancer, early detection followed by appropriate treatment is very important for increasing survival rate and improving the quality of life.
Another reason you should be visiting your dentist twice a year is because tooth decay, oral infections, and other such illnesses that lead to gum disease can also cause heart disease. There is a strong correlation between gum disease and heart disease, if you have a history of heart problems in your family visiting the dentist is even more important. The reason gum disease affects your heart is that junk on your teeth creates millions of bacteria that flow into your bloodstream. While tooth issues normally exist in your mouth alone, gum disease compounds the issue allowing the bacteria to flow through your body via the bloodstream. The bacteria will get clogged in your heart’s arteries blocking the flow of blood to the heart.
Visiting the dentist is something adults have to do, even if it feels like it should be a distant memory from childhood. When you schedule two yearly appointments for the dentist you are not only taking care of your oral health but also your heart. Another benefit of visiting the dentist often is not having to worry about expensive dental emergencies. Keeping your mouth healthy means keeping your body and wallet healthy too!
