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Adult Dental Health
Did you know that attainment of adult dental health is easier than you might think? How do you know if you are dentally healthy? Some signs of disease are easy to spot, others are not. To be considered dentally healthy, the following conditions must be met: - no decay
- healthy gums
- healthy bone support for the teeth
- chewing efficiency
- stable forces on teeth without excessive wear
- effective oral hygiene
- minimal shifting or movement of the teeth
- tissues free of cancer or other diseases
- healthy jaw joints and muscles
| This is what we see on a daily basis in dental offices: cracked, failing fillings, cracked teeth, teeth with parts missing, gum and bone disease causing loose teeth,decay so deep a root canal is needed, dental abscesses that go beyond the tooth into the bone and can be life threatening, teeth covered in plaque and tartar, small cavities between teeth only seen on x-rays, missing teeth, crooked teeth, worn teeth, gum recession. | To get the mouth in a healthy, stable condition requires some thought and planning. You must know where you are starting if you want to have a chance of getting all of the above characteristics of a healthy mouth. That is where the comprehensive exam comes in to play. It is a detailed record of your current condition. From that point, your dentist can plan the best way for you to achieve adult dental health. For some people it may not be easy, for others, just a little bit of treatment will do the trick. It is possible to go through life without ever having a comprehensive exam and plan. In fact it is what most people do. That is the reason many of us are caught by surprise when a tooth breaks or hurts, or a root canal is needed. Most dental care is done as a reaction to a problem that comes up. Typically, only that one problem is taken care of, only to leave the mouth vulnerable to the next problem. Many times the dental health slowly deteriorates over time until a tooth or groups of teeth are lost.
We know so much about prevention, and in many cases can predict the future. Because some of the problems progress slowly, there does not seem to be any urgency to seek treatment and it is human nature to delay. All dental treatment plans get more complicated over time. Today, most people want to save their teeth. If they wait to long to seek treatment, or only treat one problem at a time, the end result may be compromised, and it always costs more. The best course of action is to have a comprehensive exam to determine your status and your starting point. From there, you and your dentist can decide together how to proceed. It isn't necessary to have the treatment done all at once in most cases. If you spread out the treatment over time, but don't compromise on the results, you will have a healthy mouth that is easy to maintain.
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