What Is Preventive Dental Care?
It comprises dental care measures that help maintain good oral health. Preventive dental care is inclusive of different practices in a dental office but also at home. This way, you will not neglect your dental health just because you frequently visit your dentist in Duncanville, TX.
What Does It Entail?
The most popular and fundamental preventive dental care measures are oral cleanings and dental checkups in Duncanville. However, you can enjoy other services like:
- Fluoride treatment – for strengthening teeth and heightening their resistance to bacteria and acids that cause cavities.
- Dental sealants – for protecting the molars and premolars from bacteria that cause dental cavities and tooth decay.
- Oral cancer screenings – are evaluative tests to help identify precancerous cells in the mouth.
- Mouth protectors – for guarding your teeth and jaw during intense physical activities like high-contact sports.
Benefits of Preventive Dental Care
Some invaluable benefits of preventive dental care are:
- Early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of oral problems – preventive dental measures allow a dentist to detect anomalies in your mouth early when there is a high chance of curing the problem.
- Lowered risk of infection – preventive dental care fights bacteria and acids responsible for oral infections, like gum disease, abscessed teeth, and dental cavities.
- Improved oral hygiene – until you have progressed oral infections, you may not quite appreciate the benefits of excellent oral hygiene. Preventive measures like dental cleaning near you boost good oral health in the long term.
- Improved general health – did you know that good oral health can impact your body’s health? If not, you should start paying more attention to what a preventive dentist near you says.
How Does Poor Oral Health Affect Health?
Many people fail to comprehend that oral health directly affects general body health. The primary reason is that the mouth is the first contact point to most things that make it to your body. Therefore, poor oral health can affect your general health in some of the following ways:
- Strokes, heart attacks, and other heart-related problems -usually when oral bacteria travel to the heart.
- Atherosclerosis – plaque accumulation in your blood vessels eventually leads to hardened arteries.
- Type 2 diabetes – people with poor oral hygiene and health are 5 times more likely to suffer from diabetes.
- Vision problems – patients with gingivitis and periodontitis easily suffer vision problems.
- Lung infections and respiratory problems – the bacteria in your mouth can easily get into your lungs and impact your breathing.
- Cancer – if you have oral cancer, it can spread to other body parts, causing different types of cancer.
What Are the Five Basics of Oral Health?
When you visit us at Glow Family Dental, our dental team will try to educate you about the basic principles of excellent oral health. If you stick to the basics of preventive dental care, you will hardly have complications that necessitate emergency dental care. The five basics you must employ for excellent oral health are:
- Brush your teeth at least twice every day – take it a notch higher to brush after every meal if you enjoy foods and drinks with dark pigments like red wine, coffee, or pasta sauces.
- Do not skip flossing – use dental floss to remove food debris and plaque between your teeth. Flossing also helps rid your gums of bacteria that may lead to gum disease.
- Eat healthily – mind your food consumption to provide your mouth and body with the necessary nutrients to remain healthy. Besides, high consumption of hard, sweet, and sticky foods will be detrimental to oral health.
- Visit your dentist regularly – if you have to sync your appointments in your work calendar, do so. Do not skip your routine dental checkups and cleanings, usually after 3 or 6 months.
- Mind your oral habits – smokers and drinkers significantly tamper with their dental and general health. Quit smoking and drinking if you really desire good oral health. Besides, other small habits like biting fingernails or teeth grinding will also affect your oral health.