How often should I see my dentist ?

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Extract from the article: Regular dental appointments are essential if you want to maintain good oral health. How often should I go for a check-up ?

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Regular dental appointments are essential if you want to maintain good oral health. How often should I go for a check-up ?

A check-up is essential for healthy teeth. You don't have to wait until you have a toothache to go to the dentist. In fact, check-ups can be organised regardless of any dental problems. First and foremost, they are an opportunity to check that all is well and, if necessary, to carry out a range of dental treatments: scaling, cavity treatment, root canal removal, extraction and abscess treatment.

 Going to the dentist: an annual routine?

Visiting the dentist once a year is generally considered to be sufficient. In fact, an annual visit is recommended for children and adolescents, who are more at risk of developing cavities than adults.

However, this annual visit is only a recommendation and, in reality, the frequency of visits to the dentist will depend on a multitude of other factors: age, risk factors: smoking, diet, alcohol, diabetes, the initial state of the teeth: brittleness of the enamel, gingivitis.

The importance of regular visits

Normally, it is advisable to see your dentist for a so-called systematic visit every 6 months. But it's fair to say that if you're in good general health and have good oral health, an annual visit may be enough. Even if you take care of your teeth every day, that's no reason not to visit your dentist regularly.

It's a proven fact that despite our dexterity or manual dexterity, there's always plaque and dental tartar between our teeth that we can't remove or clean, and it's precisely this residue that causes bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease. Thanks to the annual check-up, it will be possible to detect and treat any oral problems, such as cavities, straight away.  The sooner a cavity can be treated, the healthier your teeth will be for many years to come.

It's worth pointing out that teeth are designed to last a lifetime, and in good health for up to 100 years, provided you take good care of them. A routine visit to the dentist every 6 months is all the more necessary if you have dental malposition or, above all, pathologies such as diabetes, heart disease or other pathologies with a risk of infection.

This systematic visit is very important for pregnant women, who have a fragile oral environment (due to their condition), in order to avoid tooth loss that most women consider normal during pregnancy.

The work of the dentist

During this check-up, the dentist will check for the presence of tartar or dental plaque. Dental plaque is a whitish substance composed mainly of bacteria that deposits on the teeth. Over time, this plaque turns into tartar.  Tartar can only be removed from teeth by a dentist. This operation is called dental scaling. If plaque and tartar are not removed, they will turn into acid, which will either attack the tooth enamel, leading to tooth decay, or cause inflammation of the gums, leading to gingivitis and periodontal disease, which will affect the health of the person affected.

Scaling is recommended for everyone at least once a year, if not every 6 months.  For some people who are unable to control their oral hygiene properly, and depending on the appearance of tartar on the teeth, quarterly scaling sessions may be envisaged.

The routine visit or check-up to the dentist is an important pillar in maintaining good oral health. It ensures that all patients have healthy teeth, healthy gums that don't bleed when brushing or waking up and, above all, good breath.

William O.