Tag: Teeth

How Often Should You See A Dentist As An Adult?

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. Dental health is often thought to be the gateway to the health of the rest of the body. As an adult, you must continue to be vigilant about your dental health . The following contributed post is entitled, How Often Should You See A Dentist As An Adult?

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Woman having dental checkup – Image Courtesy of Pexels

You should see a dentist as an adult as much as your personal situation calls for. Of course, this can differ for everyone. However, there are many reasons and aspects to adult dental treatment.

Common Dental Problems

About half of adults have gum disease. About 20% of these people have very bad gum disease. You’ll lose your teeth if you don’t treat cavities and gum disease. Most of the cases are caused by tooth decay, oral cancer, and dental injuries. Tooth erosion, gum infections, and gums that pull away from the teeth are also very serious dental problems. These problems can cause a lot of pain and discomfort, but your dentist can help. And they might make it hard for you to eat.

Why You Get Oral Issues

Oral diseases are caused by a number of risk factors that can be changed. These include eating too much sugar, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, and not taking care of your teeth and gums. Most of the time, bacteria are kept in check by the body’s natural defenses and good oral health care, like brushing and flossing every day. But if you don’t take care of your teeth and gums properly, bacteria can grow to levels that could cause tooth decay and gum disease.

See a Dentist as an Adult Once Per Year

Most dentists will tell you to come in about once every six months for a routine cleaning and exam if they are still getting treatment. But in general, the less likely you are to have problems with your teeth, the longer you can go between check-ups. But people who have more problems will need to go to the dentist more often. You can cut this down to once a year with good care. And for every two years if you have excellent oral healthcare with and practice good hygiene.

Ongoing Treatments You Can Try

Taking care of your teeth and mouth is something you have to do for the rest of your life. You can get specialist care and pay for cosmetic dentistry if you go to a private dental office. The goal of cosmetic dentistry is to prevent and, if necessary, fix things that don’t look good. Most of the time, these are discolored teeth, crowded teeth, and the visible signs of gum disease and recession. However, it would help if you still took care of your teeth as well as you can at home.

Effectively Brushing Your Teeth

People sometimes clean their teeth in the wrong way. For example, some people don’t spend enough time brushing. And others take too long to brush. To properly brush your teeth, move the brush gently back and forth in short strokes. You should brush the outside, the inside, and the chewing surfaces of your teeth. Try to brush for around two minutes, and don’t push too hard, either. New electric brushes from Oral-B let you know when you are using too much force.

Summary

With good oral health, you should see a dentist once per year. However, issues like gum disease can mean more appointments. Or excellent oral health could mean less dentist visits.

Health Hazard: What Happens if You Don’t Look After Your Teeth?

A key focus of my blog is Health/Wellness. The say that our mouths are the gateways to our bodies in terms our personal health and wellness. Likewise it’s critical to be vigilant about our oral healths. The following contributed post is entitled, Health Hazard: What Happens if You Don’t Look After Your Teeth?

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Source: Pixabay

Most people know that they need to do certain things in their daily routines to ensure they remain as fit and healthy as possible. Consuming a diet rich in fruit and vegetables and having some regular exercise are two such examples of those daily routines.

The problem is, some folks don’t pay much attention to their dental care and hygiene. Long-term neglect of dental care can result in all kinds of issues, and not just for a person’s teeth. Take a look at why you might need to up your game with your dental care habits:

Teeth Enamel Starts to Break Down

Dental enamel forms naturally when your teeth form in your gums. It’s the hardest substance in the human body, and it provides a protective outer layer on your teeth to protect them from physical, chemical, and temperature-related forces that could cause damage.

Unfortunately, dental enamel can become eroded if bacteria remain on the surface of your teeth due to a lack of proper dental care and hygiene. Bacteria can grow on the teeth’s surface because of a plaque build-up, where it eventually hardens and turns into tartar.

Gum Disease Can Develop

Sadly, the breakdown of tooth enamel isn’t the only thing that will happen if you skip proper dental care and hygiene. Another effect of dental neglect is that you’re very likely to develop gum disease (gingivitis).

It happens because the tartar built up on teeth due to enamel breakdown starts attacking the gums. As the disease progresses, it creates gaps between the gums and teeth and results in further breeding grounds for bacteria.

If your gums bleed when you brush or floss, it’s a sign you’ve already developed gum disease and should probably get it checked out by your local dental services provider.

Tooth Infections Can Develop

As if the breakdown of tooth enamel and the onset of gum disease weren’t enough, there are further problems you will likely experience due to poor dental care. For example, tooth infections can develop inside cracks and cavities.

If that happens, the infection can spread to the “pulp” of teeth (where the nerves are found). Once a tooth’s nerves get affected, you end up with an “abscessed” tooth, and it can be excruciating when eating, drinking, and, of course, chewing.

While it’s possible that your dentist could prescribe you antibiotics to fight off your tooth infections, you may need to have root canal surgery to clean any affected abscessed teeth properly.

Bacteria Can Spread Throughout Your Body

Lastly, it’s worth pointing out that the above issues aren’t the only things to get concerned about if your dental care and hygiene are lax. For instance, did you know that the bacteria from your mouth caused by gum disease can spread elsewhere in your body?