How Important Is Dental Work?

Did you know that the health of your mouth can affect your overall health? Oral health helps determine overall wellness because most substances that go into your body, go in through the mouth. Problems with tooth decay, gum disease, and oral cancer can affect your overall health and even your life. Routine dental exams and cleanings as well as the right dental work from time-to-time can reduce your risk for major health problems in the future.

The Mouth: A Window to Overall Health

Your mouth gets used countless times each day every time you eat, drink, talk, brush your teeth and more. How well you take care of your mouth can say a lot about not only your oral health, but your overall health. The American Dental Association recommends that every person (even children) should brush their teeth at least twice a day and floss every day. However, many people don’t follow these recommendations. This is why tooth decay, gum disease and other oral health problems are some of the most chronic conditions there are!

Everything you put into your mouth will have an effect on your health. Drinking carbonated or citrus beverages can erode your tooth enamel because of the acids they contain. Eating sugary foods destroys tooth enamel because sugar is the food plaque needs to thrive and decay teeth. Tobacco and alcohol use can quickly lead to tooth decay, tooth loss, gum disease, oral cancer and more.

Even if you’re not directly putting something in your mouth, your oral health can still be affected. For example, pregnancy brings many hormonal changes that can cause pregnancy gingivitis and gum disease, as well as mouth growths. Chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease can lead to oral health problems. In essence, your oral health can affect your overall health and vice versa. So, what can you do?

Why Would You See A Dentist?

Did you know that you should be seeing a dentist at least twice a year for preventative dental work? Many people only see a dentist if they notice a toothache or have a dental emergency. However, seeing a dentist often is vital for maintaining a healthy mouth. Dental problems happen slowly over time, not all at once. If you have a toothache due to tooth decay, that decay has probably been around for quite some time.

Biannual (meaning every 6 months) exams prevent decay, gum disease and other oral health problems from advancing. That is why patients should see a dentist at least twice a year. Problems that are tiny can be prevented early-on, and then you never have to deal with something major. This is especially beneficial for life-threatening problems such as oral cancer. This is an oral health problem that claims at least 50,000 lives each year. However, if patients see the dentist often, a dentist can spot oral cancer early and can help halt it’s progression. In situations such as these, dental work and preventative exams can literally save your life.

Dental Work They Provide

We’ve mentioned a few services dentists provide. Dental work or preventative care can consist of:

• Dental cleanings
• Comprehensive examinations
• Oral cancer screenings
• Laser cavity detection and treatment
• Dental extractions and dental implants
• Dental sealants to prevent tooth decay
• Sleep apnea therapy
• Dental x-rays
• Oral hygiene training
• Gum disease treatment and deep gum-tissue cleaning
• Porcelain veneers and crowns
• Dental botox treatments
• Dental bridges
• Cosmetic bonding
• Same-day dental crowns
• Root canal therapy to save teeth
• Teeth whitening treatments
• Tooth-colored fillings
• Help with bad breath, mouth sores, canker sores and more

Dentists literally train for 10 straight years in order to provide patients with great dental work and preventive services. When patients go to the dentist—even if they don’t see any problems with their oral health—they can continue to stay healthy for life.

Exams and Cleanings Are Incredibly Important

Some of the most important dental work a dentist can provide a patient include dental exams and cleanings. During a dental exam, the dentist and hygienist with both examine your mouth for the presence of gum disease, tooth decay, mouth sores, abnormal growths, plaque and tartar buildup, oral hygiene issues and more. That’s two sets of trained eyes (at least) that can see parts of your mouth you can’t, and that can find oral problems while they are small. They even use dental x-rays, laser dentistry, probing tools and more to see things below the surface.

Not only can these dental professionals find hidden problems, but they can perform dental work that can stop the problems in their tracks. This saves you time and money in the long run, as you will never have to have lengthy dental procedures if you have small dental work and exams here and there. With an exam will come an oral cancer screening and a dental cleaning. A dentist will check your mouth inside and out, and even feel your neck, lymph nodes and more for abnormal growths. This cancer screening takes a few minutes, but could save your life.

With cleanings, a dentist will do more than just brush and floss your teeth. This is preventative dental work where your teeth are gently but intensely cleaned for 30-40 minutes. Every tooth surface is scraped with probing tools, removing plaque, tartar and other particles. All the tooth surfaces are brushed and polished and all the teeth are professionally flossed several times. You get a fluoride treatment to build up your teeth and you find out how your oral health is doing.

Aesthetics Are Important Too

If you have an oral health problem, simple exams and dental work can help reverse it. When you simply want a better smile, you can schedule dental work such as teeth whitening or getting new teeth via porcelain veneers. Feeling like your smile looks great is also important to being healthy. Whether you want to prevent oral health problems, or improve your smile, you can call Stonebrook Family Dental today at (303) 872-7907 to schedule your appointment!