How Dental Exams & Cleaning Help You Maintain Oral Health
Regular and exams from the dentist near you are crucial as a preventive healthcare measure to safeguard your oral and overall health. During dental exams, your dentist assesses your risks of contracting oral quandaries checking your face, neck, and mouth for anomalies. The dentist also checks your teeth and gums to ensure you are free from tooth decay and gum disease. After completing the dental exam, a registered dental hygienist cleans your teeth and polishes them to leave you with minty fresh breath. You don’t have to fear this six-monthly visit to your dentist because it benefits you and your entire family.
Why do Dentists recommend Dental Exams and Cleanings?
In the first place, dentists recommend you maintain excellent dental hygiene by brushing twice a day and flossing at least once. Dentists also recommend you limit or avoid sugary and starchy foods that can remain on your teeth to become a breeding ground for the bacteria in your mouth to create tooth decay.
Even after following the dentist’s instructions, you find it practically impossible to remove the plaque developing continuously over your teeth and hardening into tartar within 48 hours. Together plaque and tartar are the leading causes of cavities and gum disease. Therefore, dentists recommend six-monthly dental exams and cleanings to ensure they evaluate your mouth and remove any plaque and tartar buildup on your teeth.
Your mouth also displays signs and symptoms of systemic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and lupus. Dental exams enable the dentist to identify these indications and refer you to your primary healthcare provider for further attention. In addition, the exam allows the dentist to provide tips on caring for your teeth to detect oral health problems early when prompt treatment delivers excellent outcomes. Therefore, the ADA recommends adults must have dental exams as recommended by their dentist even if they no longer have any natural teeth remaining.
Dental exams & cleaning in Houston, TX, is a procedure you must look forward to because it safeguards your oral and overall health simultaneously. The dentist in Houston examines your mouth to detect any issues and recommends prompt treatment if you’re affected by any problems. They also recommend aesthetic improvements if required because of damages to your teeth.
Why Do You Need the Teeth Cleaning Procedure?
You may think you brush and floss as recommended by your dentist and the professional teeth cleaning procedure is a waste of time. However, are you aware plaque removal from between your teeth and difficult-to-reach areas of your mouth is practically impossible? As mentioned earlier, plaque hardens into tartar within 48 hours, making you susceptible to gum disease. Plaque is also responsible for tooth decay requiring expensive treatments like fillings and root canals if left untreated. It is why you need the teeth cleaning procedure from a registered dental hygienist.
What Does Teeth Cleaning Involve?
Looking for cavities in your teeth and plaque and tartar removal is the primary responsibility of the dental hygienist. The hygienist starts using tiny mirrors and a scaler to guide them when performing the teeth cleaning procedure. You will likely hear scraping sounds during the tartar removal process. How much scraping you must endure depends on the extent of tartar buildup on your teeth.
After your teeth are entirely free from plaque and tartar, the hygienist polishes your teeth with a high-powered electric toothbrush and gritty toothpaste. The polishing helps remove stains on your teeth, making them appear whiter and brighter. You also receive a flossing demonstration when the hygienist uses dental floss to get deep between your teeth to locate problem areas in your gums that might bleed. You may consider the flossing demonstration pointless if you use this dental tool at home regularly. However, receiving a professional flossing lesson helps you use the tool better going ahead.
After cleaning, polishing, and giving you the flossing demonstration, the hygienist requests you to rinse your mouth and prepare for fluoride treatment to ensure your tooth enamel strengthens in its battle against cavities for several months.
Dental exams and cleaning are preventive measures recommended by the ADA and dentists to ensure you are not affected by dental problems that can affect your overall health eventually. However, if you don’t have sufficient information on why you must undergo this procedure every six months, we hope this article will encourage you not to overlook dental appointments for you and your family with the dentist near you for exams and cleaning.