Annual Dental Checkups
When the time comes for your annual dental checkup, it’s easy to put it off. You aren’t having any problems, so making time for your checkup isn’t a priority. Your yearly dental checkup, however, isn’t about making your dentist aware of problems that have cropped up since your last visit. It’s also about looking for problems that you haven’t spotted yet and helping prevent future issues. At your routine dental checkup, your dentist will:
- Take x-rays of your teeth and examine them. Your x-rays don’t just tell your dentist whether or not you have cavities. They’re also a great source of information about potential bone loss, tooth positioning problems, and warnings of cysts and other problems.
- Check out your crowns, fillings, and other dental implants. Even if you’ve taken perfect care of your teeth, problems can occur over time as fillings work loose or new decay makes its way in under the existing filling.
- Thoroughly clean your teeth. No matter how well you brush, there will be times when you miss spots, particularly between your teeth. Letting your dentist take care of this ensures that your smile will stay bright for a long time to come.
- Screen you for oral cancer.
Your annual dental exam is one of the most important parts of your regular health care and shouldn’t be avoided no matter how inconvenient it might seem. Are you a little behind on your regular dental exams? Feeling embarrassed about how long it’s been since your last appointment? Just imagine how much more embarrassed you’ll be if you put it off for another year.