Let’s be clear, a dental cleaning is something you do as part of your at home dental care routine when you brush and floss. However in our everyday interactions most of us refer to our dental hygiene visits simply as a “cleaning” but this is a bit of a misnomer.
A “dental cleaning” implies that during your appointment, that the role of the hygienist is to sweep up the things that you missed during your at home care routine. While a dental cleaning is certainly a part of what is occurring during your time with the hygienist, in actuality it is so much more.
First I want to stress why a regular six month visit to your dental hygienist is so important. Think about this for a moment, your mouth is the most used part of your body and it’s used every single day. Breathing, drinking, eating, talking, smiling and kissing. Your mouth is inexorably linked to your physical, systemic and social health and in order to live your best life you need to take care of your smile as best as you can.
As an analogy take a moment to think about how the health of your mouth is similar to maintaining the reliability of your car. Just like your car, your teeth don’t get better as they age. Cars require oil changes, new tires, new belts and hoses, and even a tune up from time to time. Why do we maintain our car? Because we know that without proper maintenance even the most reliable car will suffer a mechanical failure if regular maintenance is not performed on a regular basis. The same holds true for your oral health.
Just like a good mechanic your dental team is looking diagnostically for any potential issues while performing preventative maintenance when you visit the dentist your six month “cleaning”. During your appointment not only are you receiving a cleaning but each individual tooth is clinically assessed for any potential issues, gum tissue and bone levels are checked and an oral cancer screening is performed.
We all have busy lives but keeping to your regularly scheduled six month “cleaning” helps you to avert potentially avoidable dental emergencies and a costly dental repair.
Remember that a healthy beautiful smile is like a classic car. It never goes out of style but if you want it to stay beautiful you’ve got to get it cleaned and serviced regularly.
Are You Searching For A Martinsburg Area Dentist For You Or Your Family?
If you’re searching for an experienced dentist please feel free to contact us online or call our Martinsburg, West Virginia dental office directly at 304.267.6059 to schedule your appointment. We provide a wide range of general dentistry care as well as more involved dentistry services for patients throughout the Martinsburg area and look forward to you joining the Cornerstone Dental family.
