One of the best ways to keep your teeth healthy is to visit your family dentist’s office regularly. It’s recommended that you visit a general dentistry practice twice a year — once every six months — for professional cleanings and check-ups. This habit is especially important for children to pick up, given that over 40% of kids have dental cavities by the time they’re in kindergarten! And hopefully, if they grow up with good dental practices, that will carry over into their teenage and adult years, making good dental health the norm! Making sure your teeth and gums are healthy can also have positive effects on your health, confidence, self-esteem, and even your relationships with others! Let’s discuss how you can improve your dental health this year, why it’s important to keep up with your dental health, and how you can fix your smile if you’re dissatisfied with it currently.
What is General Dentistry and Why Is it Important?
General dentistry refers to dentists who aren’t specialized in just one area of dentistry. Instead, they offer a wide range of services that keep your teeth healthy and strong. These services can be more preventive in nature, such as offering cleanings, to more cosmetic in nature, such as installing veneers, and they can also do restorative work.
General dentistry is the most common type of dentistry, with over 80% of the dentists practicing in the United States falling into that category. They help us maintain our dental health, can point out troubling warning signs about your health (such as oral infections or sleep apnea), improve our smile’s appearance, and offer suggestions and guidance on how to keep our teeth in good working order.
How Can I Improve My Dental Hygiene?
Brushing and flossing are two great ways to keep your dental hygiene up. Keep in mind that ONLY brushing or ONLY flossing will not cut it. Together, they eliminate all the bacteria that causes cavities in your mouth, but separately, there’s still some wiggle room for that bacteria to grow.
And again, visiting your family dentist regularly will help keep your mouth healthy. They can conduct far more thorough cleanings, inspect for cavities, changes in your teeth or gums, and if necessary, refer you to specialists.
If you’re especially prone to cavities, it’s also worth watching how much sugar you eat and being extra attentive to brushing and flossing after meals.
Why Does Oral Health Matter?
The way your smile looks can have an impact on your appearance and self-confidence. The American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry reports that almost three-quarters of adults think that not having a nice smile could hurt them professionally and almost all adults who were surveyed thought that a healthy smile was important to their social life.
Unfortunately, over 30% of people say that they have concerns about the way their teeth look and almost half of the population isn’t happy with the way their teeth look. Perhaps most worrying is how early bad dental health starts. Almost 20% of children between the ages of five and 19 haev untreated cavities.
Additionally, bad oral hygiene can affect the rest of your health, from increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes, to having oral infections spread their bacteria to the rest of your body.
What Can I Do to Fix My Smile Now?
Start brushing and flossing and seeing your dentist. Consider visiting a cosmetic dentist for teeth whitening or caps or veneers to even out your teeth. Orthodontia might be needed for crooked teeth — and there are new types of “invisible” braces for adults who don’t want to be seen with regular braces.
If you’re missing teeth, dentists can also help you fix that issue! Crowns and veneers can be added to give teeth height, shape, and new color as well.
Don’t neglect your mouth. Its health has more consequences than you might think and taking care of your teeth is a long term investment. A healthy smile will make you look good and feel good and hopefully keep the cavities away!
