The odds are pretty good that you have a full schedule, and just have been putting off visiting the dentist since you aren’t dealing with any kind of dental emergency, anyway.
That’s exactly what the overwhelming majority of people are doing, according to the American Dental Association – putting off the dentist because they don’t have a pressing issue to take care of – but it’s become a major problem as well.
According to information that has been published by the ADA in conjunction with a number of dental schools in the US, a significant amount of people haven’t been to the dentist in anywhere between four and eight years. Some people haven’t been in a lot longer than that!
This is not good news.
There are a lot of different reasons why you’ll want to visit your dentist on a regular basis, that there are some very serious reasons why you’ll want to visit your dentist TOMORROW if it’s been quite a while since your last checkup.
Let’s get right into it!
Your dentist will be able to spot early signs of tooth decay
Each and every general dentist’s primary mission is to do one thing and one thing only – to catch dental issues before they spiral into dental nightmares and to deploy dental services and solutions that slow down the rate of tooth decay, resolve gum disease issues, and help you keep your original set of chompers.
If you aren’t visiting your dentist on a regular and routine basis, they aren’t going to have any opportunity whatsoever to have a look “under the hood” so to speak. This means that dental issues that could have been addressed effortlessly are going to have the opportunity to spiral out of control, and then you’re talking about some serious “heavy lifting” on the dental services side of things just to get you back to your normal self.
Schedule visits at least once a year so that your dentist will be able to have a look at you and determine exactly what kind of shape your mouth is. They will also have the chance to get out ahead of serious issues and make sure that they disappear with a lot less effort, a lot less time, and for a lot less money.
Your dentist will be able to deeply clean each and every one of your teeth
Another big benefit of visiting the dentist on at least a once-a-year basis is that they are going to be able to provide you with a much deeper clean than you’re going to get at home.
Yes, you’ll be able to keep your teeth brilliantly white if you’re brushing once in the morning and at least once more before bed – while flossing a couple of times in between – but you aren’t going to be able to give yourself the same kind of super deep clean that a professional with professional tools will be able to.
There’s a reason why they have all of those tiny little instruments designed to poke around inside your mouth and to give it the deepest clean imaginable, and you’ll want to take advantage of those services on at least an annual basis. Go too long without a regular cleaning and you run the risk of your teeth picking up some pretty nasty habits and a bunch of bacteria – and that’s when things can really start to get out of control.
Your dentist will be able to diagnose serious dental disease issues
The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there are more than 30,000 cases of oral cancer reported each and every year – but many of them are caught later in their developmental stages and require a lot more work to fight than those that are caught early.
The reason that they aren’t found earlier has everything to do with the fact that most people just aren’t visiting the dentist often enough to have a diagnosis in time. This is why adults are recommended to visit the dentist at least once a year (and it’s even better if it’s more like once every six months).
Oral cancer can spread somewhat quickly, but it’s also easily treated and remedied if it’s caught in the earlier stages.
Your dentist will be able to stop and (hopefully) reverse gum disease
The overwhelming majority of gum disease issues can be stopped dead in their tracks and even reversed if caught early enough – but that requires a dentist to inspect them regularly.
Gum disease is one of those sneaky health conditions that most people aren’t even aware of. It has the ability to completely destroy your mouth from the inside out, but it also has the opportunity to do a real number on the rest of your body as well.
Regular visits to the dentist will guarantee that you’re able to catch gum disease issues like gingivitis in advance, giving you every opportunity to fight and reverse those issues.