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Q: Why should I go to the dentist?

Silverman & Associates University Dental Family Dentistry

Posted

A: I hear the following phrases so often:

 “I brush my teeth, why do I need you to brush them as well?”

“Going to the dentist once a year is enough, why do I have to come every 6 months!”

“It’s too expensive to go to the dentist!”

“I go to my doctor every year, why do I have to see you also?”

“No offense, but I hate going to the dentist!”

To be honest I sympathize with you, being in that dental chair and having somebody play with some tools in your mouth is not on the top of my bucket list, remember I go to the dentist too! Just like going to any other doctor, it’s just one of those things you have to do to make sure your body is in good health. But’s let’s dive deeper into what a dentist does and why we should see them at the very least every 6 months.

A dentist treats the oral cavity which includes the head and neck. Our goal is to perform only PREVENTATIVE CARE. I put that in bold for a reason, if we could rid the world of cavities and infections we would be ecstatic. We want to prevent any disease, infection, broken tooth, cavity, etc. from occurring. We do that via exams and cleanings every six months. Even though you are doing the correct oral home care routine (are you?!?!) of brushing and flossing every morning and night, we all still build up plaque and calculus over time. Unfortunately, you aren’t able to brush away the calculus on your own, so every six months (at minimum) you go to the dentist so that the hygienist can clean out all the plaque and calculus. Following that, the dentist comes in to review the health of your gums and teeth. We look for any abnormalities, and recommend treatment as needed (we’ll get into the different treatments in future posts).If you don’t go to the dentist and instead let that plaque and calculus sit there and build up more and more it can lead to various conditions and disease such as gingivitis, periodontitis, heart disease, etc. Yes, I wrote heart disease and that wasn’t a typo. Remember your mouth is an entry point to the rest of your body and both the ADA (American Dental Association) and AHA (American Heart Association) agree there is a link between Periodontal Disease and Heart Disease.

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