The Importance of Visiting Our General Dentist Office

Visiting your general dentist twice a year should be routine. We know that you have probably heard it a million times, but we will keep saying it until most or all our patients are coming in for that bi-annual examination and cleaning. The challenge is this: even in the face of a mountain of evidence showing how visiting your general dentist twice a year can keep your teeth in the best health possible, the statistics show a shift in the other direction. Fewer people are making it a habit to see the dentist, which is extremely disconcerting to a general dentist. For simplicity, we measure the number of visits per year, with the hope of finding at least two visits from each patient, but willing to settle for one. Over the course of a decade, between 2002 and 2012, studying the patterns of appointments shows a declining percentage of the population who visited the general dentist at least once. In 2002, the percentage was 44.5 percent, which decreased to 42.1 percent in 2012. These are the people who did come in at least once in the last year, leaving 57.9 percent of the population who did not. Unfortunately, when this kind of a trend happens, we see other numbers that no dentist likes to see. For example, 27.5 percent of the population suffers from untreated cavities, while 14 percent of the adult population lists the condition of their mouth as poor. This is unnecessary, and something we would like to help reduce greatly.

Coming in to see the general dentist can be a short, but important visit. Allowing us to check your oral health once every six months allows us to catch any problems before they become serious and treat them while they are still minor.

You have probably heard all the reasons for visiting a general dentist before; cleaner teeth, better oral health, and of course, our ability to catch diseases. These are all important, but here are some rather unconventional reasons rarely mentioned in the context of regular general dentist visits. Did you know, for example, that your mouth is one of the most important indicators of your overall health? The mouth offers the dentist a snapshot of how your body is doing health-wise, with little indicators like mucous membranes revealing if you are drinking enough fluids or if you are dehydrated. In addition, many bacterial and viral diseases, which affect other parts of the body, often first manifest in the mouth. The mouth tells your general dentist many things above and beyond general oral health. We can tell if you potentially have anemia, a vitamin deficiency, or even trace element deficiencies just by examining your mouth. In addition to this, we are always looking for traces of oral or throat cancer. Lesions in your mouth, throat, or on your tongue would be easily detected during one of these routine examinations, allowing the dentist and your doctors a much better chance at fighting and beating any cancerous formations.