We often hear that we need to go see a dentist for our regular ‘check-ups and cleans’. It’s often seen as a ‘thing we just need to do’ and but most people don’t truly understand why it needs to be done. Most of the time when people see their dentist for a ‘check up and clean’, everything feels fine. And if all goes well, we are told ‘everything is fine – see you again in 6 months’. So what actually happens and why is it important?
The Purpose of Dental Check Ups
In life we have 2 sets of teeth. The permanent or adult teeth start coming into the mouth at around the age of 6 and generally finishes around the age of 12. This is our final set of teeth that needs to last us the rest of our lives. With the life expectancy in Australia at 83 years, those teeth need to last over 70 years. During that time there’s a lot of eating, grinding, crunching, potential accidents (biting on things we shouldn’t), etc. If we want our teeth to last a lifetime, it’s important to be looking after them when we are young. It’s all about prevention and management of issues that can occur.
But it isn’t just about teeth. Your dental check up involves detailed assessment of all of the tissues in and around your mouth. This includes the gums, the nerves of the teeth, the tongue, lips, cheeks, jaw joint, muscles, salivary glands, lymph nodes, airways…. It’s a pretty long list. It also includes an oral cancer screen.
The Benefits of Regular Dental Cleans
Regular dental cleans is extremely important. Most people see the benefit in regular dental cleans as removing external stains, plaque, and calculus (tartar). It keeps the smile looking good and it feels nice and fresh afterwards.
However, the benefits go much further. If you have any dental work in your mouth – (composite build ups, veneers crowns, or implants), regular dental cleans help those things last much longer. They also help to keep them looking good and prevent permanent stains.
Regular dental cleans help to maintain the gums. Where the gums meet the teeth, there’s a pocket. This is similar to your fingernails and for most people it’s around 3mm deep. This is an area that you physically cannot reach to clean at home. Over time, plaque and bacteria develops in this area and causes gingivitis. Gingivitis is an inflammatory condition of the gums. It’s painless and hardly detectable. Some people may notice their gums bleeding from time to time. This is a sign that gingivitis is progressing. If left long enough, gingivitis may progress to more advanced gum disease (known as periodontal disease), which may eventually affect how well the teeth are held into the mouth – this is irreversible damage. There’s also a lot of research that shows gum disease and the link to other conditions of the body. This includes diabetes, heart disease, respiratory disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease pregnancy issues, obesity and osteoporosis. Your regular dental clean involves professional cleaning of the pocket areas to control that gingivitis and inflammation.
Detecting Oral Health Issues through Check-Ups
We live in a great time. Our technology and knowledge of the body has never been as advanced as it is now. We understand how disease progress. We understand how our teeth wear out with age. Wear and tear, diseases and pathology of the mouth almost always starts off painless and undetectable. But they do progress. And often they can progress for a long time before people are aware of them. But as we all know, early detection and management is everything. The earlier a condition is detected, the earlier it can be managed. This means much simpler treatment. Quicker and easier and more effective.
There has been a lot of technological advances in dentistry. When you come for your check up, your dentist may take fancy photos, x-rays from time to time, and do digital scans of your mouth. This is all in addition to the visual and tactile examination, and is important in early detection of… well everything.
Personalised Dental Care Plans
It there are any treatment recommendations during your dental check up and clean appointment, your dentist will put together a personalised dental care plan. This is also known as your treatment plan. They will let you know what treatment needs to be done; in what order they should be done; what is involved in the treatment; what you can expect afterwards; and any reasonable alternatives or options to the treatment.
Overcoming Dental Anxiety & Fear
A lot of people put off coming to the dentist due to anxiety and fear. Anxiety and fear is completely normal. With modern technology, procedures, protocols and techniques your dental visit is much more comfortable than previously. In fact, we are constantly upgrading our equipment and technique to keep your visits as pleasant as possible.
There are also lots of options for dental treatment that makes it accessible for people with anxiety and fear. Most of the time we can simply work through it at the time of the appointment. However, for longer more in depth treatment we can put you to sleep. This is known as ‘sleep dentistry’ or ‘treatment under sedation’. We work with a team of specialist anaesthetists who can come in to your appointment so you can have the treatment whilst you are asleep. You will wake up comfortable and relaxed, knowing you have had the best dental care.
Iconic Dentistry: Your Trusted Dental Care Provider
So what does a regular dental check-up and clean mean? What is regular? For most people we recommend seeing your dentist every 6 months (or twice a year). At Iconic Dentistry, we work with our patients to be proactive in their dental health. We aim to detect and manage issues before they become problematic so that you can go on and enjoy all the fun things in life without having to worry about your teeth and oral health. If it’s been more than 6 months since your last dental visit, or if you have any dental concerns we would love to look after you. Call us to book for your check up and clean.
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