Nearly everyone cares about their teeth, at least on a superficial level. Nearly all adults surveyed agree that attractive and healthy teeth are to be desired, and attractive teeth may inspire confidence in a person and improve their social prowess. This may even impress professionals at a job interview or someone on a date. But there is more to teeth than the cosmetics; preventative dental care is a good idea to practice regularly, both for kids and adults, to prevent harm to their teeth. Otherwise, they may have to visit their local dentist more often than they should. Smart, preventative dental care can keep someone’s teeth in good shape longer, and they may need nothing more than checkups at their dental office. But in other cases, major procedures such as root canals or tooth extractions might be needed. What might someone expect at the dentist’s office when they visit? And what about preventative dental care?
Preventative Dental Care
Kids and adults may find preventative dental care easy, and this is a simple matter of discipline. Kids may be taught the value of preventative dental care early on, and they may soon take care of their teeth on their own. For anyone young or old, brushing the teeth with fluoride toothpaste is often the first line of defense, and everyone should do this carefully after every meal. Brushing teeth will remove harmful, tooth-damaging bacteria found on the enamel, and it also removes the plaque that these bacteria secret as they eat. Brushing teeth will also get rid of the food bits and sugars on the teeth that these bacteria feed upon. Meanwhile, a person may floss to remove food bits from deep between the teeth where a bristle brush cannot reach, and after all this, mouthwash will clear out any remaining bacteria and also freshen the breath. Kids may sometimes be supervised, to ensure that they don’t swallow toothpaste or mouthwash.
Basic preventative dental care expands to everyday life. A person may suffer blunt trauma to their teeth, which might crack them, knock off chips, or even knock the entire tooth loose. Kids naturally lose their baby teeth to make room for their adult ones, but adult teeth don’t grow back at all. So, Americans are urged to look out for their adult teeth. This means avoiding chewing on hard items such as ice cubes (which can crack the enamel), and they should use mouth guards when they play sports. This can avoid the possibility of knocking teeth loose. What is more, some habits may be avoided to keep teeth and the gums safer. Smoking tobacco is known to discolor the teeth rapidly, and may even cause mouth cancer. Chewing tobacco may rapidly wear out the gums and damage them, and this can lead to tooth loss. An adult is urged to avoid all tobacco products to keep their teeth and gums attractive and healthy.
Surgical Procedures for Teeth
In some cases, a person will need to visit their local dentist for care, such as for major surgical procedures. They’re in good hands; dentistry ranks in the top 10 most trusted and ethical professions in the United States, and dentists and their assistants are highly motivated to do a fine job. In some cases, a patient’s wisdom tooth is coming in, and this tooth may cause crowding and deformation of the teeth around it. This is not to be desired, so a dentist may numb that emerging tooth and remove it entirely. Tooth extraction may also be done if a tooth is heavily infected, and removing it is the only way to contain the infection. Meanwhile, rotted gums may cause teeth to fall out, so a patient may visit their dentist and have the tooth safely and numbly removed in a controlled manner.
Conversely, a patient may get dental implants, such as a dental bridge. This is a realistic false tooth that will be put in a tooth gap, and the false tooth is anchored to the real teeth flanking the gap with covers. Dentures, meanwhile, may replace whole rows of teeth in the mouth or even all of them, and dentures are common among the elderly. Dentures can be put in and removed from the mouth as desired.
