Many people visit a dental clinic only when they have a tooth or gum problem—such as bleeding gums, toothache, cracked tooth, or painful jaw. However, seeing a dentist is something that should often be done, as this helps discover problems that you might be developing. Preventive dentistry deals with issues before they aggravate into big problems, or can even usher in other health issues. Some dental problems occur slowly and progressively and by time you know you have a dental problem, a lot of damages has already occurred. For example, a painful tooth cavity begins as plaque and then progress to tooth decay. At the decay stage, you may not experience major issues and probably what you feel is just some sensitivity. However, a visit to a dental clinic can reveal other dental problems, such as cracks in your teeth, gums that are affected and have already exposed the enamel. Here is how you should visit a dental clinic for checkups.
You should have a dental checkup twice a year
About 50 years ago, a dental health checkup was conducted among people that were being recruited in the military and which showed that majority of teeth were in bad shape. Only a handful of people knew the importance of taking good care of teeth and gums. During those old days, there were no guidelines that had been put forward to show how many times in a year a person should see a dental practitioner.
Much of the treatment was based on fixing dental problems rather than preventing them. However, new standards were developed by dental and health organizations— which introduced preventive dentistry. The rule of visiting a dental clinic twice a year was born, and this is what people do— it has become a norm.
Not everyone can fit the “twice-a-year” rule
While you may want to visit a dental office twice a year, this does not apply to everyone. Some people only make their visits to dentists two times but for others, it is more often. This is because people who are at risk of developing gums and teeth problems are likely to suffer more dental problems and require checkups very often.
On average, most people have two visits to their dentists, and this works pretty well for them, but for others, they get away with fewer dental clinic visits. Others make more frequent visits to dentists.
People at higher risk of having dental problems should make frequent visits
Anyone who has a higher risk of having dental diseases should make more than two visits in a year to a dental clinic. It can be three, four, or even five times depending on how one is likely to develop issues with their teeth and gums.
A person who smokes, suffers from diabetes, has existing gum disease, a weak immune system to bacterial infections, or those who tend to develop cavities and plaque should make more visits to the dental clinics.
In case you take proper care of your gums and teeth and a dental expert does not find any issues with your oral care for a couple of years, it is possible that the dentistry professional can choose to lengthen the time you should make visits to a dental clinic. Many dental problems are not visible, or they don’t cause pain until they have advanced to more serious stages, such as gum disease, cavities, and oral cancer.
Having regular visits can help dentists to find symptoms and signs of diseases and offer treatment before the problems progress to more serious stages. Don’t wait until you have dental issues; if you feel that you are at risk of developing dental problems, see Dr. Sean Tarpenning at Hebert Dental more often.
