April is oral health month, and while it’s always important to highlight the benefits of regular dental visits, we’re taking advantage of this widely recognized month to remind our patients and London community of the role that consistent dental hygiene practices and assessments by a dental hygienist play in a person’s overall health and well-being.
Here’s how regular visits to your London dental hygienist can help you:
Dental hygienists undergo an intense period of study that teaches them many skills that include cleaning, scaling, and polishing, and, perhaps most importantly, recognizing the signs and symptoms of dental problems and diseases in their early stages. Regular visits to your dentist and dental hygienist are one of the easiest ways of ensuring that any small problems in your mouth are identified and treated before they have the chance to develop into more serious problems that require increasingly invasive and expensive treatment options.
Dental hygienists can also assess the current condition of your teeth and mouth and make recommendations of how you can tweak your home-based dental hygiene routine to ensure that your teeth and gums are well cared for.
Intensive cleaning
Even the most well-intentioned, dedicated person misses spots when they’re cleaning and flossing their teeth at home. There are certain areas that people just can’t reach with a toothbrush and floss alone, and a visit to your dental hygienist for a professional, deep clean is the best way to ensure that these areas are being tended to and that the whole mouth is being professionally cleaned on a regular basis.
Knowledge sharing
Dental hygienists are continually educating themselves on the latest knowledge and technology available to take care of the teeth and mouth. This is a requirement for membership in the professional association to which all registered dental hygienists belong. Regular visits to the dental hygienist give you the opportunity to ask questions and learn about how you can improve your own dental hygiene methods, helping you take greater control of your own oral health.
We’ve all been told time and time again about the importance of taking care of our teeth at home and making regular visits to our dentist and dental hygienist. These healthcare professionals are your first line of defense against preventative diseases in the mouth and can be instrumental in identifying serious conditions like oral cancers while they are still in a state that is easy to treat.
Has it been a while since you’ve visited with your London dentist or dental hygienist? Call the team at Highland Woods Dentistry today. We’ll schedule some time to assess your oral health, clean your teeth, and discuss a plan to address your oral healthcare needs in a way that fits your unique situation and schedule.