There is a strong correlation between your oral health and your overall health and well being. There is increasing evidence being presented illustrating the link between gum disease and a number of systemic diseases including heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lung conditions, obesity and much more.
The mouth is the gateway to the body and by maintaining it to the best of our abilities, we are taking the first step to a holistic approach to our overall well being.
A dental check up and clean goes beyond searching for cavities and simply cleaning the teeth. During an examination we look beyond just the plaque and decay. We look at the gums, the tongue, the palate, your bite, the lips, any potential pathologies on the soft or hard tissues and much more. The clean also goes beyond simply removing the plaque off your teeth. It goes both above and under the gums to remove deeply set calculus and allows for a significant decrease in bacterial load.
When it comes to your oral health, prevention is key. It is always far more effective to maintain your oral hygiene then it is to have an infection that needs to be resolved.
Regular dental check ups allow us to become more familiar with your mouth and overall health background, making it easier to identify any problems early on and result in a more simple and affordable solution. During these visits we use clinical and diagnostic imaging to identify potential problems and resolve them early on. When dental problems are left untreated, they unfortunately do not simply go away but rather grow and may develop into a much larger problem. For instance, by removing calculus at your regular check up and clean appointments, you avoid diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis, and by resolving decay early you can save your tooth from having to get a root canal or extraction.