DENTAL CARE
PART 5
- Prevention and Detection of Gum Disease
The danger of early-stage gum disease is that it doesn’t involve any symptoms, or some symptoms clear up on their own (such as bleeding gums when you brush your teeth).
Dentists can identify gingivitis during checkups and can thus treat it as needed, provided that you supplement the treatment with proper dental hygiene.
- Stop Gingivitis Before It Can Worsen: Early identification of gum disease ensures you can get more affordable and easier treatment for it before symptoms worsen enough for you to resort to deep cleaning or even dentures.
- Periodontal Disease Can Lead to Tooth Loss: Once gingivitis becomes acute and turns into periodontitis, you’ll be dealing with loose or mobile teeth, deep periodontal pockets, and a host of other complications.
Left untreated, they’ll lead to tooth loss. You need to plane, scale, and deep clean those areas to remove diseased tissue and encourage dental healing.
- It’s Easier to Treat Gum Disease Earlier Than Later: Early treatment of gum disease is far easier and less expensive than leaving it to literally rot your teeth, which can cause inflammation, pain, jaw damage, and tooth loss.
- Detecting Health Issues Along with Dental and Oral Issues: Oral health issues come part and parcel with dental health issues or even overall bodily health. You can suffer from serious health complications with untreated dental conditions!
Periodontitis is an oral health condition that can lead to oral cancer and heart disease, for example.
- An Opportunity for Dental Spring Cleaning: Just as cleaning during spring is your opportunity for major cleanup of your home, the dental health checkup is your dentist’s opportunity to check the state of your dental and oral health.
It’s your annual or semiannual tune-up to prevent needing an overhaul of your teeth in the form of all-on-6 implants for full jaw reconstruction.
- What’s Being Examined During the Dental Checkup: Your dentist examines your teeth, gums, inner and outer mouth, tonsils, jaw, neck, and lymph nodes for any irregularities. If a health issue is detected, they can give you a referral to the right dentist specialist or medical professional for treatment.
- Save Money by Spending Time with Your Dentist Yearly: See your dentist once or twice a year like it’s a holiday to save you from more expensive and worse oral health issues down the line.
Early oral health issue detection and regular checkups can save you money in the long run because dental implants and bridge installment are not cheap!