Are you someone who brushes his or her teeth and gums once or twice a day? Do you include flossing after each and every meal? If you are someone who makes a mediocre attempt at keeping your mouth clean, then you are someone who needs to see a dentist at least several times a year.
Even though you take decent care of your teeth and gums, you need to be aware that if you don't maintain a healthy diet, eat tons of sugary products, smoke, drink, and other things, you may be at a higher risk of developing dental issues such as cavities and periodontal disease.
Many people assume that no matter what they put into their mouths, as long as they brush and rise with mouthwash, they have nothing to worry about.
Contrary to that belief is the fact that many dental problems start from the inside first.
This means that the average person won't know that there is a problem until they start to experience pain, tooth decay or some other noticeable symptom that gives some sort of discomfort.
Usually when you start to experience discomfort, the problem has already progressed to the point of you needing professional help from a dental professional.
A dentist can see inside of your teeth and take a close look at your gums.
They can see when there is infection present, and they can also see when there is decay or other dental problems developing.
In many cases, those signs of discomfort, aches, pains, sensitivity to hot and cold are all indicators of an infection.
Your dentist can treat this infection by prescribing you an antibiotic and some pain medication.
If the infection is diagnosed and treated early enough, you don't have to lose any teeth.
Minor aches and pains are your body's way of letting you know that something is wrong.
If you ignore or don't pay attention to those symptoms, the infection gets much worse.
It doesn't go away on its own.
Instead while you are thinking that everything is fine, the infection is steadily destroying the tooth's nerve and causing your teeth to rot.
Once damage is done to the nerve and structure of your teeth, there is no way to resolve it but to remove the decayed tooth so that it doesn't spread to your other teeth.
Keep in mind that if the infection is caught early on, your dentist may be able to save your tooth.
They may have to do a root canal.
Most restorative, corrective and cosmetic dental treatments can become very expensive.
If you see the dentist on a regular basis, you can avoid having to pay for more expensive treatments later on in life.
You only get two sets of teeth for free in your life, so you should value them and take good care of them.
The next set is very expensive to own, and some people end up going through life missing some or all of their natural teeth.