Dental Checkups: A Step Toward Prevention

A regular oral hygiene regimen is important to your dental health and your dental health is important to your physical health. You wouldn’t consider skipping your yearly physician’s exam, and you shouldn’t consider skipping your twice yearly dental exams–but people do. In fact, when it comes to saving time and money, one of the first things to go is dental treatment. However, it shouldn’t be that way because dental checkups are a major step toward prevention.

What Do Dental Checkups Prevent?

Your dental checkups can prevent small problems from developing into big, expensive, painful problems. For instance, a small cavity can easily be filled, but by the time that small cavity causes you pain; it could need a root canal. Root canals are more expensive and more invasive than a small filling. Dental checkups can also prevent periodontal disease. You may be in the early stages of periodontal disease–gingivitis–which can be treated and reversed. However, once you develop full-blown periodontal disease it cannot be reversed and can lead to jaw bone atrophy and tooth loss, which can lead to needing dentures or implants. And then there is oral cancer…a person dies from oral cancer every hour. If oral cancer is detected in the earliest stages, however, the cure rate is 80 to 90 percent.

Prevention

To help prevent any of the above conditions or other dental health problems perform a regular dental regimen at home that includes brushing at least twice a day, flossing daily, and rinsing with an anti-bacterial mouth wash. Also, make sure to visit your dentist twice yearly for a thorough exam and professional cleaning.

ABOUT YOUR ANKENY, IA DENTIST:

Dr. Peddicord offers a complete range of preventative, cosmetic, and restorative dental procedures as well as high quality dental prosthetics. Dr. Peddicord can answer your inquiries, and provide the services you need to maintain the health, beauty, and function of your teeth. To schedule an appointment at Peddicord Family Dentistry, please contact us at 515-963-3339. Our Ankeny, IA dentist’s office proudly provides general and cosmetic dentistry services to patients from Bondurant, Polk City, Elkhart, Alleman, and Cambridge.