How Often Should You Visit the Dentist?
If you feel any pain or discomfort in your teeth or gums, you should see your dentist. But what if you are not really having any dental problems? Then how often should you visit your dentist?
Maintaining a regular and consistent schedule of dental visits may be challenging. You may not have a dentist conveniently located near you. You might experience anxiety visiting the dentist, perhaps because of a prior experience. You could also be concerned about fitting regular dental care into your budget.
These common reasons for missing routine dental visits are common. Seeing your dentist regularly, pain or no pain, problems or not, is still critical to both your continued oral health and your overall health.
How Often Should You Go to the Dentist for Checkups?
The health industry actively recommends that you visit your dentist twice a year for consistent preventative exams. Twice-yearly appointments will give you and your dentist an advantage in keeping your teeth and gums clean and healthy.
Plaque, the sticky clear film created when bacteria, acid, food particles, and saliva combine, is forming daily and begins accumulating on your teeth immediately after eating. Within days, unremoved plaque will harden into tartar, which is also called calculus. Plaque immediately leads to both tooth decay and gum disease.
Consistent daily brushing and flossing at home removes plaque, but not all of it. Only your dental team, using a dental scraper, can successfully remove plaque after it is hardened into tartar. Routine dental cleaning is a crucial line of defense against cavities and gum disease.
Is There More Done at a Regular Visit Than Cleaning?
Having your teeth cleaned is not just the only good reason to visit your dentist regularly.
- Detecting Oral Health Issues Before They Progress- Your dentist will identify warning signs you may not spot on your own. For example, you might have a cavity so small it does not need more attention than just brushing and flossing, or even a prescription fluoride. If you miss your routine cleaning, you will not know about this decay until it becomes more serious.
- Screening for Oral, Head, and Neck Cancers- Your dentist will look for symptoms of more than tooth decay and gum disease. During your regular visit, they will also examine and screen you for signs of mouth, head, and neck cancer. The sooner your dentist identifies any signs of cancer, the better your chances of receiving effective treatment with successful outcomes.
- Saving Money Long-Term with Timely Dental Treatment- When your dentist detects and treats dental problems early, you are more likely to be spared physical and financial agony of both complicated and prolonged treatment soon.
Who Should See a Dentist More Often Than Every Six Months?
The twice-a-year dental visit recommendation is a solid foundation, but your personal health situation will determine how often you should see your dentist.
You may need to see your dentist every three months or more if you:
- Have tooth decay or gum disease, or a history of either.
- Use alcohol and tobacco products consistently.
- Have diabetes or other chronic health conditions.
- Have immune systems that have weakened.
- Are pregnant.
All these conditions, among others, can increase your risk of problems. Proactive and preventive monitoring and treatment will help keep you in your best possible oral health.