How often should you visit the dentist?

Bel Canto’s regular patients will know we encourage frequent dental visits. But how often should you visit the dentist for a check-up?

While we always enjoy seeing our patients, there is a serious reason why we ask you to return at specific intervals, because it is the simplest and most cost-effective way to benefit from a beautiful and naturally healthy smile.

During your initial visit to Bel Canto Dental, our dentist Dr. Mackie will carefully evaluate your current dental health and can recommend the most suitable preventative dental care plan. Most people need to see a dentist twice a year.  We highly recommend regular check-ups every six months, as areas in the mouth can change quickly.

It isn’t enough to only see a dentist once a year because regularly monitoring your dental health allows us to detect the smallest signs of problems.

There is a huge advantage in identifying changes to your dental health at an early stage. Any treatment required is often faster, less invasive and will preserve more of your natural tooth structure. Also, regular dental checkups reduce your risk of dental emergencies that can arise if you have untreated tooth decay that develops into a serious dental infection.

Some common dental diseases, for example, gum disease have very few, if any symptoms during the early stages, but this is the very time when the disease is more straightforward to treat and is entirely reversible. Symptoms such as gums that bleed when brushed or flossed, or at other times, are a sign that something is wrong, but which are very easy to dismiss. Healthy gums should never bleed!

Your regular hygiene appointments form another vital part of your preventative dental care plan, and Dr. Mackie and or dental hygienist will suggest a suitable schedule for you to follow. Because your dental health is unique, everyone is different.

Why Your Dental Hygiene Visits are Vital

Hygiene visits are generally required every three to six months, and most dental insurance plans will cover the costs of these visits. Dental hygiene appointments are vital for maintaining great oral health.

During these visits, our skilled hygienists will professionally clean your teeth, removing any buildup of calculus (hardened plaque), while carefully examining your gums for any signs of infection. Regularly removing calculus helps to improve and maintain gingival (gum) and jawbone health. Treatment will leave you with beautifully fresh breath, and it can help remove some surface stains, giving your smile added sparkle!

Another thing we can do during these visits is to offer advice on how to care for your teeth at home. Sometimes, brushing up on your oral care routine can be very helpful.

Deep Cleaning Gums with Scaling and Root Planing

If you do have any signs of gum infections, we will need to deep clean your teeth more frequently, which is a process called scaling and root planing. It is a treatment very similar to a routine hygiene appointment, but which cleans more deeply into any infected areas of your gums.

Scaling and root planing is very effective at removing the bacteria causing gum disease. Treatment can be combined with advanced Periowave therapy which is very gentle and quick. Often, scaling and root planning will form part of an ongoing treatment plan to help fight active gum disease and is necessary every three or four to six months. The costs of scaling and root planing treatments are also generally covered by dental insurance.

Regular hygiene visits and dental check-ups provide you with the peace of mind that your dental health is always the very best it can be. Excellent dental health also has a protective effect on your general health, so if you haven’t seen a dentist in a while, why not book an appointment?