The American Dental Association recommends getting a dental check-up every six months. If you’re lucky, these visits are uneventful. You may even start to feel that they’re unnecessary because everything is fine whenever you go to see your dentist. Let’s look at why regular dental check-ups are important.
Why Regular Dental Check-Ups Are Important
While it’s wonderful that you aren’t experiencing any serious dental issues, it is really important that you don’t assume that means your regular dental check-ups in Beverly Hills are pointless. The reality is that your regular check-ups are the primary reason why you don’t have any serious issues.
What Happens During a Dental Check-Up
There are four things that regularly happen during your bi-annual dental check-up.
Routine Cleaning:
Even the most fastidious people miss hard-to-reach spots sometimes. Given enough time, those bits of food and bacteria harden into tartar. Tartar cannot be safely removed at home.
When you see your dental hygienist, they identify areas where plaque and tartar have formed. Then they use specialized tools to eliminate both. By removing plaque and tartar every six months or so, your dental hygienist greatly decreases your risk of tooth decay and gum disease.
Cleaning Review:
Your dental hygienist will also make sure you know where your trouble spots are as they clean. This conversation isn’t meant as a judgment of your oral hygiene practices. Your dental hygienist is simply sharing relevant information so that you can improve your hygiene and reduce the risk of future complications.
Dental Inspection:
Once your cleaning is complete, it’s time for your dentist in Beverly Hills to check-in. Your dentist will do a thorough inspection of your teeth. Their inspection will include a visual look at all tooth surfaces as well as your gums.
If your dentist identifies potentially problematic areas, they may have to do a more physical examination. It isn’t as unpleasant as it sounds. If there’s a tooth surface that looks a bit off, they usually just use a tool to apply slight pressure to test for decay.
X-Rays:
Obviously, your dentist can’t see everything just by glancing around your mouth. By doing regular x-rays your dentist can evaluate the inside of your teeth as well as your jaw bone. This approach helps your dentist to identify areas of decay that may be missed during a visual inspection.
The Results of Routine Dental Check-Ups
If you’re following a regular oral hygiene routine and seeing your dentist every six months, then your check-up is unlikely to unveil anything particularly troubling. Your bi-annual dental visits are a primary preventative measure that actively prevents minor issues from becoming major ones.
Keep in mind, your dental check-up isn’t just designed to detect tooth decay. When your dentist is performing their visual inspection, they’re looking at the soft tissues of your mouth, the back of your throat, and around your tongue as well. Your dentist is the most likely person to find evidence of serious oral disease or oral cancer.
Establishing an Oral Health Routine
It can be embarrassing going back to the dentist after years away, but you don’t have to feel that way. The average American is just like you, and your dentist desperately wants for that to change. To your dentist, you are part of that change by making the move to improve your habits.
Stop worrying and just give your local dentist a call. If you’re a new patient, the office staff will gladly walk you through any initial paperwork. Once you’ve had your first appointment and established that you like your dentist, you can easily set up a couple of future appointments with built-in reminders to prevent yourself from falling back into old habits.
