Did you know that oral disease affects nearly 3.5 billion people worldwide? Cavities, gum disease, oral cancer, and tooth loss can contribute to serious health problems like diabetes and heart disease.
Sadly, you can easily prevent oral disease by visiting a dentist regularly. If you haven’t seen the dentist lately, it’s time to start changing your habits. An excellent way to start is to get a better understanding of the amazing health benefits visiting the dentist can bring.
Keep reading this guide to learn five dental visit benefits that will keep you smiling!
1. Prevents Cavities
Cavities, or tooth decay, are holes that can form in your teeth. They start small and gradually grow larger when left untreated. Most cavities don’t cause any pain when they first start, so it’s difficult to realize you have a problem in the early stages.
Symptoms and Causes
By the time you do have symptoms, you’ll experience problems like:
- Tooth pain
- Tooth sensitivity
- A noticeable hole in your tooth
- Black or white stains on your tooth
Cavities are caused by plaque build-up, saliva, bacteria, acid, and food particles. Plaque sticks to your teeth and erodes the enamel over time, and once you have weak enamel, your risk for cavities increases.
Other conditions like acid reflux disease can increase your risk even further.
Treatment
Eventually, untreated cavities will result in infections and tooth loss, leaving you at risk for poor nutrition and other chronic diseases.
To catch cavities early, you’ll need to find an experienced team of dentists to see regularly. During your dental visit, you’ll get an assessment of your oral health and tips on improving your oral hygiene routine.
As a result, you’ll have fewer cavities and a healthier smile.
2. Early Detection and Treatment of Gum Disease
Gum disease or periodontitis begins when you have too much bacterial growth in your mouth. Early gum disease is known as gingivitis or gum inflammation. Not all gingivitis leads to gum disease, and many people have gingivitis at some point during their lives.
However, if you don’t get treatment, it can lead to significant problems. Plaque builds up on your teeth and hardens into tartar that forms along your gum line. Eventually, the tarter irritates your gums and causes gingivitis.
When early gum disease goes untreated, the infection spreads to the inner layer of your gums. This infection causes the bone to pull away from your teeth and form deep pockets, which trap more bacteria.
Ultimately, you’ll end up with significant tooth loss and infections that can spread to the rest of your body.
Gum Disease and Your Overall Health
Gum disease is also closely linked to your overall health. Remember, your mouth leads to your respiratory and digestive tracts, and the bacteria in your mouth can cause different diseases.
Gum disease can play a role in respiratory infections, diabetes, and infections in the heart lining (endocarditis).
Symptoms and Causes
Gum disease usually starts with mild symptoms that are easy to ignore. However, once gum disease starts to progress, you’ll notice signs that include:
- Receding gums
- Red and swollen gums
- Bad breath
- Deep pockets between your teeth and gums
- Shifting or loose teeth
- Changes in the way your teeth fit together when you bite down
Gum disease can be caused by hormonal changes, illnesses like cancer, and certain seizure medications. The most significant causes of gum disease are poor oral hygiene and not seeing the dentist regularly.
Treatment
During a dental visit, your dentist will check the health of your gums. Treatments include regular cleanings and dental examinations.
Your dentist may recommend scaling and root planing for more advanced gum disease. Scaling and root planing is a deep cleaning that removes tarter and plaque from your gumline.
Early treatment for gum disease improves your overall health and is one of the biggest benefits of the dentist!
3. Early Oral Cancer Detection
Oral or mouth cancer initially appears as a sore or growth that doesn’t go away. Oral cancer is cancer that forms in any part of your mouth, such as:
- Gums
- Tongue
- Lips
- The roof of your mouth
- Under your tongue
Symptoms
Oral cancer is easy to miss in its early stages, and many people don’t get a diagnosis until their oral cancer is more advanced. Oral cancer symptoms are also easy to dismiss as something else. Common symptoms include:
- Difficulty chewing
- Ear pain
- Hoarseness and chronic sore throat
- Bleeding in the mouth
- White or red patches in the mouth
- Lumps or bumps on the gums or cheek
- Weight loss
Early Detection and Treatment
Oral cancer screenings are an essential part of your routine dental examination. If you see the dentist regularly, they’ll catch suspicious changes early on, and you’ll be able to get treatment much sooner.
4. Catches Dental Problems Early
Regular dental visits allow your dentist to catch dental problems early on before they become more significant.
Dental X-rays give a great picture of your teeth, jawbone, and soft tissues surrounding your teeth. They can show problems with your mouth and jaw, such as cavities, impacted wisdom teeth, tumors, and jawbone loss.
Your dentist will also talk to you about your oral health and discuss any recent symptoms or changes you’ve noticed. They’ll also check the alignment of your bite and the condition of previous dental work, like fillings or implants.
In addition to cavities and gum disease, your dentist can diagnose problems like TMJ, infections, damage from teeth grinding, and enamel erosion.
5. Education on Your Oral Hygiene Routine
Many people don’t understand the importance of establishing a good dental hygiene routine. It’s all too easy to brush your teeth once a day and not take the time to floss.
Also, many people eat foods high in sugar and don’t rinse their mouths afterward. When you need to improve your oral health, you’ll need to know what changes to make at home.
Your dentist will review your current routine and recommend changes. Most of the time, these changes include brushing twice daily, flossing once daily, and using an antiseptic mouthwash.
Additionally, your dentist will review your diet and recommend reducing foods high in sugar. They may also recommend professional fluoride treatments to strengthen your tooth enamel.
Benefits of Seeing the Dentist Regularly
There are significant health benefits to seeing the dentist regularly, and once you establish a good routine, you’ll notice vast improvements.
If you don’t have a dentist, be sure to make the time to find a dentist you’re comfortable with.
To learn more helpful health tips, check out the rest of our blog today!
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