Importance of the 3 Main Parts of Regular Dental Checkups

As you should know – regular dental checkups are an important part of a good oral health regimen. It is recommended that you visit the dentist at least once every 6 months for a regular checkup, and when you do there are three main parts to your visit that are extremely important:

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  Checking the condition of your teeth, gums, and other oral areas

The first thing that your dentist will do when starting your checkup is to inspect the condition of your teeth and gums, as well as other areas such as your throat, tongue, and so on. When they do, it is to identify any potential issues that could affect your oral health.

For the most part this is why it is extremely important to attend your regular checkup every 6 months. As the dentist inspects your teeth, for plaque, tartar and cavities as well as your gums for any gum disease or decay – they will be able to pick up on issues at a stage where they are early enough that they can be treated if necessary.

• Cleaning, scaling and polishing as required

Based on their inspection, the dentist will next clean your teeth for you. While you can clean your teeth yourself to remove plaque, once that plaque has hardened into tartar it is difficult (and close to impossible) for you to remove it yourself which is where scaling will help. Also by polishing your teeth many of the surface stains can be removed too.

Essentially this cleaning will help augment your own oral health routine and help overcome any shortcomings in it before it becomes a more serious issue. If you have been brushing and flossing effectively then less cleaning will be required – but if it isn’t then at least having your dentist clean your teeth every six months will help prevent cavities.

• Advice on how to improve your brushing and flossing

All said and done this may be the most important part of your regular dental checkup as your dentist will be able to pinpoint exactly how you can improve your brushing and flossing based on the inspection and cleaning that they’ve carried out. That should help you to perfect your technique, and will also mean that (hopefully) the next checkup will require less cleaning too.

By now you should be starting to realize just how important your regular dental checkup actually is and what a crucial role each of these three parts plays in helping to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Keeping that in mind, be sure that you never ‘skip’ an appointment, no matter how busy you may be.

It is always a good idea to make it a point to visit a Chiswick dentist for your regular appointment when it is scheduled instead of postponing it. By making it a priority, you will be able to reduce the risk of developing oral health issues and catch any problems before they flare up and become far more serious or require extensive treatment.