The Importance of Your 6-Month Check Up

 Every day, you spend a little time keeping your house clean. You wipe down counters or sweep up a floor, you do the dishes and empty the garbage. But every once in a while, maybe in the spring and fall, you dust the corners of your ceilings, scrub behind and under the stove, vacuum along the baseboards and use a whole lot of elbow grease to really get your home clean and sparkling.

That process of maintaining a clean house—daily habits and a more thorough cleaning—can also be used to maintain healthy teeth. When we brush and floss our teeth daily, we’re keeping our teeth relatively clean. But just like your home, your mouth needs a thorough cleaning every now and then to keep your teeth, gums and body healthy.

Comprehensive Dental Specialists performs the professional cleaning you need every six months. Most check-ups take between 30-60 minutes. Our dental hygienists will use specialized tools to clean your teeth in ways a toothbrush can’t. After an examination of your mouth, tongue and teeth, we’ll remove plaque and tartar from the teeth using a scaler. When tartar is completely cleared, your hygienist will brush your teeth with an electric brush and a gentle grit toothpaste. We’ll then floss deep between each of your teeth, watching for gum sensitivity or bleeding.

Dr. Jabri will inspect your teeth for signs of damage, deterioration of previous restorations or tooth decay. He will examine your mouth and tongue for signs of any disease and screen for cancer of mouth so treatment can begin as soon as possible.

Your check-up may involve getting X-rays of your mouth. While Comprehensive Dental Specialists recommend cleanings every 6 months, bite wing X-rays are recommended yearly and full mouth x-rays are recommended every 36 months, as needed. X-rays help us identify any dental health challenges as early as possible, when treatment options are less expensive, less invasive and more comfortable.

In cases where routine cleanings have been avoided for a long time, we may have to complete more intensive descaling and deep-cleaning processes that involve anesthesia.

With regular cleanings, your risk of bleeding when brushing your teeth decreases. Cleanings alleviate bad breath caused by plaque and bacteria. Clean teeth give your smile a whiter, brighter, more approachable, and friendlier appearance.

Routine cleanings work in large part exactly because they are routine: every 6 months your dental care providers should be removing plaque build-up and checking your teeth for any damage. Not only is oral health vitally important from a personal hygiene perspective, research increasingly links tooth and gum health with overall wellness. Doctors have found that older adults with poor gum and tooth health were more likely to develop dementia, and that patients with better oral health were less likely to suffer from heart disease and high blood pressure.

Oral health is whole body health. The health of our teeth can determine which foods we can enjoy, enhancing our quality of life. Clean, healthy teeth are important for self-esteem, self-confidence and mental health.

If you haven’t had your teeth cleaned in the last six months, it’s time to make an appointment with Comprehensive Dental Specialists. Call 815-744-1774 or visit our website today.