Oral Health: Dental Exams and Dental Cleanings

Keeping up with your oral health is one great way to lead a healthy lifestyle. Teeth are meant to last you a lifetime. However, without proper care for them, they may not get you through adulthood. Thankfully, the world is quickly appreciating the role of dental care. A lot of technology and resources have been dedicated to improving oral health.

Even so, some people regard oral health as only brushing of the teeth at least twice every day. While that is part of dental care, there is more you must do to keep up with your oral health. Part of it includes visiting your dentist regularly.

Importance of Dental Exams

Whether you have Invisalign® on your teeth or not, visiting your dentist often is a great idea. People do not give enough credit to how much dentists do to help sustain the health of your teeth.

Getting a medical exam is part of the procedures you have to go through when you visit a dental clinic. Some of the benefits of dental exams are:

• Checking for cavities

Even though you brush and floss every day, cavities have a way of sneaking up on people. Food residues and debris that remain in your teeth after eating cannot all be cleared by brushing your teeth. Cavities may not affect your oral health instantaneously. As the cavity continues to increase, the enamel of your teeth gives in to decay. If left for too long, you can lose your tooth to a cavity.

• ii. Identifying plaque and tartar build-up

A dental exam may be the only way to find out whether or not your teeth are home for plaque and tartar.

• iii. Examining the health of your gums

Gum disease can cause a lot of discomfort for patients. It can also lead to other oral problems like bad breath, mouth sores, and bleeding. Before you develop a serious case of gum disease and require emergency dental care, consider frequent exams.

• iv. Checking the state of your bone structure

Anything could happen between your dental visits. Accidents and injuries that affect the mouth can cause serious problems for your mouths bone structure. A dental exam will help ensure that your bone structure is intact. This will also entail checking that your teeth are not shifting the wring way or wiggling from the root.

Importance of Dental Cleanings

Your visits to your dentist won’t always be about dental exams. Part of the regular checkup will involve cleaning of your mouth. Dental cleaning may involve some sedation dentistry, but that is not all there is.

After examining your oral health, a clean-up is necessary for some of the following reasons:

• To get rid of discoloration

The food you eat plays a big role in the colorization of your teeth. The goal of all patients is always to maintain a white bright smile. Dental cleaning helps get rid of the stains that may start forming over time.

• Getting rid of plaque and tartar

The smallest particles of food residues can hide in corners of your mouth, as well as between your teeth. With time, this will cause the formation of plaque. Plaque is a product of bacteria in your mouth and food residue. It is usually a sticky layer of harmful bacteria that accumulates over time. The problem with letting plaque stay in your teeth for too long is that it develops into tartar. Tartar can only be removed by a dentist, not by brushing your teeth.

• Curbing gum disease

Gum disease can worsen and result in periodontal disease. Dental cleaning will clean your teeth and sterilize your gums from bacteria that could cause an infection. Dental cleaning is ultimately the best way to prevent gum disease.

• Saves up on unnecessary expenses

Dental treatment can get costly very quickly. Having to fix broken bones, missing teeth, misaligned teeth, cavities, gum disease, to mention a few dental problems, can dig deep into your pockets. Having your dentist clean your teeth at least twice annually will save you on such unnecessary expenses.

• Helps identify oral cancer in its early stages

Oral cancer is a huge challenge for people globally. A dental cleaning can help the dentist identify cancer earlier on before it spreads.