Why Bother With a Regular Dental Cleaning?
Those semi-annual appointments with your dentist don’t just keep your smile sparkly white. Maintaining excellent oral health has numerous advantages for your overall health.
The opposite is true - poor oral hygiene not only impacts your short and long-term oral health but leaves you at risk for a range of illnesses and diseases that can infect the body.
A Whiter Smile
Your dentist has specialized tools that remove stains, plaque, and decay from your teeth, as well as polish them, to leave you with a brighter smile. Along with brushing and flossing at home, a thorough dental cleaning is key to optimal oral health.
Prevent Cavities, Bone and Tooth Loss
Our teeth get a lot of daily use and take an enormous amount of punishment. While brushing and flossing are important, a deep cleaning can remove cavity-causing tartar on hard-to-reach surfaces of your teeth.
Without this essential regular maintenance, it’s easy for cavities to happen and decay to spread, which can eventually lead to tooth loss. Further, tooth loss has been connected to coronary artery disease.
Early Detection of Illness and Disease
If diseases such as early stage gum disease (gingivitis), oral cancers and pre-cancerous lesions do occur, early detection and intervention are key to effective treatment.
Your dentist is a powerful ally in the battle against disease, as they provide regular oral cancer screenings and thorough examinations of your teeth, gums, teeth, tongue, throat, neck, and face.
Detect Problems with Teeth, Fillings, Crowns, and More
Along with our teeth, dental fillings, crowns, bridges and other dental work take daily punishment. While many last for years, they sometimes develop chips or cracks and need to be restored or replaced.
Attending regular dental cleanings can help your dentist catch these early, and prevent the need for inconvenient emergency visits and more costly, invasive treatment later on.
Prevent Bad Breath (Halitosis)
Combining at-home, everyday oral hygiene with regular visits to the dentist is the best way to keep your mouth clean and odour-free.
Boost Overall Health
There’s a correlation between our oral health and overall physical health, although more research is needed to understand it.
Poor oral health can allow bacteria to grow and cause gum (periodontal) disease, then migrate to other parts of the body and lead to conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, pneumonia, pregnancy and birth complications, heart attack, stroke, and more.
Conversely, maintaining excellent oral health and getting your teeth cleaned semi-annually can reduce your risk of these, as well as put you in a better position to proactively care for your overall health.