With everything going on this year, most patients experienced some disruption to their regular dental routine. It happens to the best of us: that one cleaning got skipped because of the COVID shut-down back in April, and then you tried to reschedule but you had to get the kids back in school or try to navigate virtual, and now the holidays are almost here. Maybe it can just wait until next year.
Those regular check-ups may seem like a luxury item in all the chaos that has been 2020, but we’re here to tell you why your dental cleanings are so essential to excellent health.
REGULAR DENTAL CLEANINGS PREVENT SERIOUS PROBLEMS
When you come to Anderson Family Dental for your regular cleaning, we’re doing so much more than just making your smile sparkle. We prefer to think of a cleaning as a comprehensive oral wellness assessment.
Many dental problems are not painful or obvious until they have become severe. Regular check-ups allow us to identify and diagnose problems early, hopefully before they become serious. If we can identify a cavity before you start to feel it, Dr. Anderson can likely treat it with a much more conservative filling. This means less time in the dental chair, less chance of pain, and less cost to repair the damage!
During your wellness check, we also look for signs of oral disease such as warning signs of oral cancer and HPV. If we notice early signs of gum disease, we can advise you on how to reverse it before it causes permanent damage like bone loss. Regular oral health assessments are the cornerstone in keeping your family’s oral health in peak condition.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A DENTAL CLEANING?
Obviously, the main goal of a regular check-up appointment is to clean your teeth, right? But what exactly does your hygienist do?
First and foremost, a hygienist’s job is actually not about polishing your teeth and making them look nice. Their main focus is on maintaining the health of the soft tissues of your mouth. That means that they are assessing the health and stability of your gums and treating or preventing inflammation.
Even the best brushers and flossers in the world will build up some hard deposits, commonly known as tartar. Tartar is extremely rough and can cause microscopic abrasions in your gum tissue. This, in turn, can lead to swelling and bleeding. In advanced stages of gum disease, this inflammation can affect other systems of the body. (Stay tuned to our blog for more info on that in the future!)
By removing hard deposits below the gumline, where you can’t even see them, your hygienist helps to protect your gums from damage. Obviously keeping that killer smile sparkling is also a goal, but cleanings are about so much more than that.
If you have gotten a little behind on your cleaning routine this year, no worries. Call our office to schedule so we can get you back on track! Even if it’s been years since your last cleaning, there is no time like the present for getting caught up and letting us put you back in control of your oral health.