Dental Checks – Your ‘Insurance Policy’ For Better Oral Health

Don’t underestimate the importance of regular monitoring of your teeth and gums

Today’s blog is a ‘back to basics’ one. There are many fantastic dental treatments, both restorative and cosmetic such as teeth implants and whitening, but without a good solid foundation to your oral health care, these will be irrelevant. Good care at home is essential of course, but so is seeing your Burton dentist on a regular basis, usually every six months, for a thorough examination.

We have heard of people who only visit the dentist when a problem, such as a toothache, arises. This is a poor way of looking after your teeth as we will see later. We do acknowledge that for some people, this is due to a fear of seeing their dentist but there are now many ways that we can help nervous patients at Mike Allen’s Dental Practice so please contact us if this affects you and deters you from your regular check up.

Why have a check up?

It is perhaps better initially, to take a look at what happens when you don’t. As we mentioned above, some people only go to see their dentist when a toothache arises. In most cases, a toothache follows extensive tooth decay. This doesn’t happen overnight and a cavity can take months, or even years in some cases, to develop to the point where it becomes painful. Not only is a toothache likely if the problem is allowed to develop over time, but more damage will be done to your tooth too, usually requiring more significant treatment or possibly even an extraction. You might think you are making your life easier by missing your check ups, but in the longer term, this is certainly not true.

Compare the above outcome if the same patient had gone for a check up. There is every chance that a small amount of decay would have been detected and all that would have been required was a small filling. The treatment would be less invasive and more of the natural tooth would be saved, making it stronger and more functional, to say nothing of avoiding a painful toothache!

Not just tooth decay

While most of us associate the dentist with tooth decay, it is probably less well understood that we also monitor your gum health as part of the check up. This is important, not only to avoid the unpleasant symptoms of gum disease such as sore and inflamed gums and stinky breath, but also, good gum health is important to maintain stable teeth. Periodontis especially can lead to wobbly teeth and may even result in their loss.

If we detect poor gum health, we will recommend that you make an appointment with our Burton dental hygienist. We will discuss this in more detail a little later.

Oral cancers

Being on the ‘front line’, dentists are in a great position to spot potentially serious health problems connected to the oral cavity, especially oral cancer. This is a problem that still appears to be rising despite the number of people giving up smoking, although this is still a major factor. Excess alcohol consumption and the sexually transmitted HPV virus are also considered to be likely causes of oral cancer. Although not as well known as some other forms of cancer, such as lung or bowel cancer, oral cancers can kill and even when not fatal, can result in problems with swallowing as well as disfigurement.  Whilst it is obviously best to avoid this problem through adopting a healthier lifestyle; as with most illnesses, if it can be detected and treated early on, the outcome is likely to be much better.

It is important to state that we are not trained to be able to diagnose if any unusual symptoms we detect during your check up are cancerous. If we refer you to your GP because we notice lesions, white patches etc, this is purely a precautionary measure and there may be other, less serious, reasons for these symptoms. Your GP will be able to examine you and either diagnose or refer you for further examination by a specialist.

Dental hygienists

As mentioned earlier, we might recommend a visit to the hygienist if we notice signs of gum disease. As with dental check ups though, it is far better to see our hygienist regularly anyway. This would usually be at a six monthly internal but this may be more frequent for those at a higher risk of gum problems. At each visit, the hygienist will discuss with you ways to improve your overall oral health and will carry out a procedure known as a ‘scale and polish’. This removes hardened materials from your teeth and gum line which attract bacteria which can lead to gum diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis.

If you have let your oral health care slip a little over the past couple of quite ‘testing’ years, why not take the opportunity to get it back on track? To make an appointment to see one of our dentists or the hygienist, please call Mike Allen’s Dental Practice in Burton today on 01283 845345.