Why You Should Schedule Your End-of-Summer Dental Checkup Right Now

The end of summer is approaching…soon the kids will be going back to school and the weather will be changing. You should make the most of the final days of summer by scheduling your end-of-summer check in with your favorite dentist in Encinitas, CA.

Here at Ablantis Dental, we’re here to serve patients throughout the Santa Fe, San Diego, and Encinitas areas. We provide the utmost quality in attention and care that you deserve so that you can make it through the rest of the year with ease.

Detect Potential Issues Early On

Early prevention is the secret to preventing any disease from taking root, and this is especially true of oral diseases. That’s why we recommend our patients visit us every six months. We use X-rays, dental cleanings, and visual examinations to monitor against any warning signs of oral disease or other dental issues.

Some of the most prevalent issues that can be caught with early detection are:

Nerve damage
Discoloration
Alignment
Tooth loss
Oral cancer
Cavities
Gum disease
Impacted wisdom teeth

When it comes to these conditions, the earlier they are caught, the better. That way, the dentist can recommend the best course of action and efficiently prevent any further damage to your oral health.

Skipping a six-month appointment makes it more difficult to detect issues. By checking in at six-month intervals with your dentist, you’ll regularly remove harmful bacteria from your mouth with a thorough cleaning and catch any problems before they have a chance to grow.

Let YourFavorite Dentist in Encinitas, CA Help with a Comprehensive Visual Evaluation

A comprehensive visual examination is a big part of the detection of any issues before they have a chance to cause any damage to your smile. This examination is an important aspect of your standard six-month checkup, as it lets the dentist examine the state of your mouth, gums, and teeth.

You may not have noticed any issues in your oral health, but your dentist’s trained eye might. The dentist will perform the following steps (in no specific order):

Examine your teeth for any visual evidence of decay
Check your bite for proper alignment
Evaluate the health of your tongue and gums
Look for any signs of gum disease
Examine past dental work, including crowns or fillings, to make sure that they are still intact and performing well

You can’t simply carry out this type of visual evaluation on your own at home. A dentist with years of experience and training can perform this evaluation because they have the knowledge and skills to find issues you might overlook.

If any issues are found, your dentist will recommend a course of action to correct them. This can be as simple as recommending that you floss more often or carrying out a specific dental treatment at the office.

Have X-Rays Done

X-rays are a vital way that we examine the health of your jawbone and teeth. Having X-rays done at regular intervals will help to keep tabs on the overall wellbeing of your mouth.

If you stay on top of your six-month dental visits, you might notice that you’re not having X-rays done at every visit. You’ll most likely have them taken once every year. X-rays help the dentist to discover, diagnose, and treat any problems that they might not be able to see during a standard visual examination. X-rays help to identify issues that might not otherwise be noticed until they started causing pain.

X-rays can often detect bone swelling, decay, shifting teeth, impacted teeth, tumors, and other issues that happen below the surface of your teeth. If your dentist is able to catch them before they fully develop, he or she can prevent serious damage to your oral health.

Screen for Oral Cancer

Oral cancer screening is one of the most important parts of any dental appointment. Over 10,000 people pass away from oral cancer every year in the United States. Oral cancer is aggressive and hard to treat in its later stages. Early detection of oral cancer is crucial.

Known to develop around the gums, the lining of the cheeks, the floor of the mouth, and the throat, oral cancer is serious. There are some risk factors that increase your chances of having oral cancer, such as the heavy use of any alcohol or tobacco products, extensive sun exposure to the lips, and HPV.

Oral cancer screenings are not painful or invasive, and they only take a few minutes. The screening involves a systematic visual inspection of all of the soft tissue in your mouth, as well as an examination of your lymph nodes and neck tissue. You’ll also be asked a few questions to determine any risk factors that you may have.

You can also help to catch oral cancer early by knowing what to look for. If you have any of these issues, contact your dentist immediately:

A lump or sore that doesn’t go away within a few weeks
A significant change in your bite
White or red patches
Any tenderness or pain in the mouth, especially along the lips
The feeling that something is caught in your throat
Difficulty swallowing, speaking, or chewing

Oral cancer can spread throughout your mouth, so early detection is absolutely vital. Your dentist will perform a simple screening at regular intervals to prevent cancer from developing any further if it is present.

Dental Cleanings

Brushing and flossing can help to keep your teeth clean, but only a dental cleaning can truly remove all the plaque and tartar on your teeth.

If plaque sits for too long on your teeth, it can cause quite a few issues, including gum disease, bleeding, and cavities. Dentists make use of specialized tools that remove tartar and plaque from areas of your mouth that you can’t reach, no matter what tools you may have at your disposal. You should have a professional cleaning twice every year.

This cleaning will consist of: