Tag: Six Month Checkups

Make It a Happy New Year For Your Teeth

2019 Dental Health Resolutions That Will Make You Smile

People are already making new year resolutions like saving money, eating better, or starting a new business. Why not make one of your new year’s resolutions improving your dental health? Taking good care of your mouth, teeth and gums is a worthy goal in and of itself. Good oral and dental hygiene can help prevent bad breath, tooth decay, and gum disease — and can help you keep your teeth as you get older lessening the chance of expensive replacement procedures. Understanding the importance of oral health and its connection to your overall health is our goal at Northgate Dental. Here are some strategies that if followed will give you a brighter, healthier smile in the coming year.

Cut Back on Sugar

Eat Better Too Much Sugar Can Harm Healthy TeethYour body is a complex machine. The foods you choose and how often you eat them can affect your general health and the overall health of your teeth and gums, too. If you consume too many sugar-filled sodas, sweetened fruit drinks or non-nutritious snacks or meals, you could be at risk for tooth decay. Tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease, but the good news is that it is entirely preventable by applying regular dental checkups and proper brushing and flossing. Tooth decay happens when plaque comes into contact with sugar in the mouth, causing acid to attack the teeth. Cutting down on sugar will help improve your dental health, giving you stronger, healthier teeth.

Eat Better

Eating well is important for your dental health. Poor nutrition can affect the entire immune system, increasing susceptibility to many common oral disorders, including gum (periodontal) disease. Antioxidants and other nutrients found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts improve your body’s ability to fight bacteria and inflammation, helping to protect your teeth and gums. In addition, crisp fruits and raw vegetables like apples, carrots, and celery help clean plaque from teeth and freshen breath.

Stop Using Tobacco

Using tobacco can harm your mouth in a number of ways, increasing your risk for tooth discoloration, cavities, gum recession, gum disease, and throat, lung, and oral cancer. Smokers are about twice as likely to lose their teeth as non-smokers. It’s not just smoking tobacco that has negative effects on your oral health: use of smokeless tobacco can be just as harmful to your oral health. The good news is that the risk of tooth loss decreases after you quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco.

Limit Alcohol Consumption

People Drinking Red Wine Which Can Stain TeethYou may already know that excessive alcohol intake can have an effect on your overall health, but did you know that it may also affect your oral health? According to the Academy of General Dentistry, those who smoke, eat poorly and consume excessive alcohol also have increased gum recession (periodontal pocketing). Their studies show that smokers who regularly consume alcohol are less likely to brush their teeth on a regular basis and are less concerned about their basic health than nonsmokers. And for you wine drinkers, wine clings to and stains the plaque in your teeth, so brush it away before you drink to decrease your chances of a wine-stained smile.

Brush Twice and Floss Once

Brushing and flossing every day protects your teeth from decay and gum disease, which is caused by your teeth’s most persistent enemy, plaque – a sticky, colorless, invisible film of harmful bacteria that builds up on your teeth. Both brushing and flossing are equally important for good oral health. According to the Academy of General Dentistry, only flossing can remove plaque from between teeth and below the gumline, where decay and gum disease often begins. Because diseases of the mouth can affect the rest of your body, it is especially important to maintain good oral health.

See Your Dentist for Regular Checkups

By seeing your dentist at least twice a year, you can help prevent any dental health problems before they cause discomfort or require more comprehensive or expensive treatment. Regular visits allow your dentist to monitor your oral health and recommend a dental health regimen to address areas of concern. There’s no time like the present to take control and ensure that your teeth will be beautiful, healthy and strong for years to come. If you’d like to discuss your family’s oral health please contact us at Northgate Dental. We will be happy to help you with any advice we can. Or if you prefer, request a dental appointment instead and we’ll provide a free consultation. As always, our practice is built around your smile. So let us know how we can help.

Why Dental Checkups Are Essential

When it comes to healthy teeth, an ounce of prevention can go a long way. Regular checkups can help identify oral health issues early on before they become major problems later. These checkups help protect not only your oral health but your overall health as well. Visiting your dentist every six months may not be an appointment you are looking forward to, but it is one of the most important to keep. If you are thinking about skipping a dental checkup because of time or dental anxiety, make sure to consider all the risks. What you might end up paying in the long run for not visiting your dentist will likely be much higher, both for your wallet and your peace of mind. Here are some of the most important reasons you should see your dentist on a regular basis.

Dental Basics

At each dental checkup, your dentist first looks at the basics – do you have plaque, tartar or even cavities? What about signs of gum disease? In addition, regular checkups can discover early problems like chipped or cracked teeth, uneven wear or thinning enamel that if not treated early will get worse. A professional cleaning also helps keep your teeth and gums healthier.

Female Dental Patient At Checkup For Tooth PainScreening For Oral Cancer

An overlooked benefit of dental checkups gives your dentist the opportunity to screen for oral cancer and abnormalities in the mouth. In addition to doing a visual scan, your dentist can use a special tool that highlights areas of oral tissue that are more suspicious. This can be a real life saver.

Detecting Health Issues Early On

Tooth pain and gum disease are two conditions that can be caught and dealt with when you go in for regular checkups. Pain isn’t always caused by a cavity; in fact, cavities rarely hurt unless left untreated for a long time. But pain could be a sign you’re grinding your teeth or have a broken tooth or abscess. Gum disease can affect your whole body as well as your mouth. So checking for gum disease is one of our priorities.

Keeping Bad Habits in Check

There are many bad habits that can have a negative impact on your oral health. These include chewing ice, biting your nails, clenching your jaw, grinding your teeth, eating particularly sticky or hard sweets, brushing your teeth too hard, drinking coffee and red wine, and of course smoking. When you go for regular dental checkups, your dentist can check for any oral damage caused by these or other habits which you may otherwise not have noticed.

Being Preventive

Oral health education is an important part of preventive dentistry. At Northgate Dental we show you and your family ways to keep your teeth and gums healthier while at home, helping you avoid cavities, gum disease, enamel wear, gingivitis, and even periodontitis. Building and maintaining healthy smiles is our mission and the key to keeping a bright, healthy smile throughout adulthood is to practice proper oral hygiene and make regular visits to your dentist. By following the practice of Preventive Dentistry, we care for your teeth to keep them healthy before, during, and after your appointment.

Smiling Female Dental Patient Proudly Points To Her Healthy TeethVisit The Dentist Every Six Months

It’s standard to visit the dentist twice a year because brushing and flossing will only get rid of so much of the bacteria. At a certain point, bacterial growth becomes resistant, clinging to surfaces on and between the teeth, even after the most vigorous brushing and flossing. This is when it’s time to call in the professionals and go see your dentist who has specialized tools to manually remove this caked on tartar, making your teeth healthy and clean again.

There’s no time like the present to take control and ensure that your teeth will be beautiful, healthy and strong for years to come. If you’d like to discuss your family’s oral health please contact us at Northgate Dental. We will be happy to help you with any advice we can. Or if you prefer, request a dental appointment instead and we’ll provide a free consultation. As always, our practice is built around your smile.