Nicholas Ehmann, DDS, BMSc
Ann Ma, DDS, BMSc
Greetings to all who are reading this article! Whether you completely change your dental habits or take away only one tip, we hope that all those who read these blogs will learn something that improves their oral and overall health. As such, we’ve chosen our first blog to be about why visiting the dentist regularly is a good idea.
Why It Matters in Adults
For adults, oral health doesn’t become as much of a priority (or an issue) until middle age – if you’re lucky. This is because the mouth and body are great at covering up problems, but not so great at getting rid of the causes. Many people can go decades without feeling pain or having oral issues until these problems get out of hand. Most of the difficulties that dentists face either affect the teeth themselves or the soft tissue (gums, cheeks, etc.). All problems start from somewhere, and regular check-ups can prevent a simple cavity from turning into a root canal or from needing a tooth pulled – keeping you pain-free and healthy until old age.
Prevention is the cornerstone of modern dentistry. It’s easier to stop a problem than it is to fix it. Some preventative measures include:1
- Regular fluoride use
- Good brushing technique
- Flossing
- Avoiding sticky/sugary foods like toffee
- Rinsing your mouth with water after eating
- Eating your meals at regular and scheduled times
- Avoiding frequent snacking throughout the day
Along with preventative measures, early detection, involving a physical examination and X-rays, is important for dentists to understand what’s going on between the teeth, under the gums, and in the bones.2 Your dentist should always perform a quick head and neck exam during your check-up, checking the skin and tissues underneath visually and by touch. This step is vital for the detection of early tumours, skin issues, and other diseases. While it’s essential for individuals to get yearly check-ups with their family physicians, many often forget to do it. In this case, dentists may be able to discover something that may otherwise go undetected if you weren’t seeing a physician regularly.
What It Matters in Kids
Unlike adults, it’s far more likely for children to develop oral diseases and problems. Some of these problems present faster and to greater severity in children than adults. For example, the same abscess that would simply cause pain for an adult could be life-threatening in a child if it were to spread to the developing skull and brain. Therefore, it’s even more important for children to see their dentist regularly. If not caught early, these issues can have severe, lifelong consequences.
Even if there are no problems present, monitoring children’s dental growth is also very important.3 For example, if your kid is missing their adult front teeth (e.g. if they simply never developed), it’s better to know beforehand and plan for it than to go through the expensive and time-consuming process of braces (and maybe jaw surgery!) once their other adult teeth have moved into place.
The Bottom Line
Overall, dentists are a valuable resource for maintaining not only your oral health but also your health overall! One can’t deny that going to the dentist regularly can be expensive. However, it’s much cheaper to prevent and fix problems early than to spend thousands of dollars, and endure the pain and frustration once the problems start to pile up.
We could talk endlessly about this topic and many others, but over the course of this blog, we intend to cover issues most people ask dentists, from fluoride use to vacation dentistry. We would also love to answer questions straight from you as well; if you have any questions or concerns regarding this article or others, feel free to reach out to us on Instagram, Facebook, or at ask@orbishealth.ca with your feedback. We’d love to hear from you.
RESOURCES
- Maheswari SU, Raja J, Kumar A, Seelan RG. Caries management by risk assessment: A review on current strategies for caries prevention and management. J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2015 Aug;7(Suppl 2):S320-4 full-text
- Hurlbutt M, Young DA. A best practices approach to caries management. J Evid Based Dent Pract. 2014 Jun;14 Suppl:77-86
- Tinanoff, N., Coll, J., Dhar, V., Maas, W., Chhibber, S. and Zokaei, L. (2015). Evidence-based Update of Pediatric Dental Restorative Procedures: Preventive Strategies. Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry, 39(3), pp.193-197.
- Dynamed
