Avoiding the dentist does not save money.
Avoiding the dentist exacerbates the problem.
Avoiding the dentist will be more expensive long-term.
The difference between a person who visits the dentist regularly and a person who goes to the last resort is not just the cost of restorative dental work. The difference is the health of your teeth. By this we mean: your natural teeth are the best thing for your oral health.
If you wait until pain drives you to the dentist there’s no telling what the problem could be.
If you’re lucky, all you might need is a filling. If you’re unlucky you might need anything from a dental crown to root canal therapy. And if you’re really unlucky the infection will be so bad extraction may be required.
Extraction is a last resort. A tooth isn’t just there to help you chew or bite, it’s there to stimulate jawbone density and prevent jawbone atrophy. A tooth helps keep other teeth in alignment.
So when you lose a tooth, it affects your jaw, your other teeth and your bite. If your bite is misaligned it can lead to headaches, neck pain and other associated problems.
Visit the dentist regularly
At Redlands Gentle Dental Care we recommend you visit the dentist every six months for a check-up and clean. The advantage of regular dental visits is we can treat gum disease before it advances to periodontitis. We can clean your teeth in a way that brushing and flossing can’t.
With x-rays, we can ensure the health of your tooth roots and jaw. For younger patients, there is the chance of identifying problematic wisdom teeth and removing them before they become impacted.
It can also be a way to identify the need for root canal therapy. This treatment is an effective way of saving a tooth from needing to be extracted. As well as easing the pain of swelling that’s caused by an infected tooth.
Six monthly dental check-ups are one of the best ways to look after your oral health
A child losing a tooth to decay is not okay.
Even though milk teeth will fall out anyway, a milk tooth that falls out because of decay can have negative effects on adult teeth. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to not only look after your child’s health but also to bring them in to see the Redlands Gentle Dental Care team.
Whether you’re 5 years old or 95 years old, regular dental check-ups can be the difference between having a scale and clean and the need for more serious restorative work.