TOP TEN REASONS TO SEE A DENTIST

We all love top-ten lists, so here you go!

1.  Fight cancer.  Every hour in the U.S., a person dies from oral cancer.  Only a dentist can do a thorough oral exam and catch the signs of oral cancer early.  Please, leave this diagnosis to the professionals and don't forget that physicians don't substitute for a dentist for this diagnosis.

2.  Maintain your teeth and bones.  A dentist will help enable you to keep your teeth longer.  Maintaining the bony ridges that support the teeth is important for the health of your teeth.  Plus, if you've lost teeth, this leaves the possibility of implant placement in the future.

3.  Have a whiter and more dazzling smile.  This is pretty obvious, right?  A visit to the dentist can remove the common causes of staining.  Plus, if you choose, you can take it a step further and go for whitening treatments as well.

4.  To set good standards for your children.  Having children see the dentist early on in their life allows them to develop a positive attitude toward dentists, prevent future fears from forming, as well as other important issues.  Orthodontic issues can be settled early, sealants can be placed, and early decay can be detected.  Sadly, by the time children are in third grade, 50-70% of children have at least one cavity.

5.  Periodontal diseases (gum disease or pyria) can be prevented.  Regular dental cleanings can prevent this serious gum disease from starting or spreading to other places.

6.  If periodontal or gum diseases start, they can be treated.  Why is this so important?  Because they are time dependent.  Even the best dentists can't reverse severely progressed periodontitis.  Since treatment is usually a painless process, it's important to see a dentist to determine whether or not these diseases are starting to affect you.  Earlier the better, ALWAYS!!!

7.  Periodontal disease can be reversed in its early stages.  Early detection provides benefits to your overall health way beyond your oral cavity.  Periodontal diseases have been noted clinically to contribute to the development of heart disease, increase the risk of stroke, as well as increase a woman's risk of having a preterm, low birth weight baby.  If that's not enough, it poses a threat to people who have diabetes, respiratory conditions, and osteoporosis.

8.  Your dentist can detect other systemic conditions that may be brewing earlier than a family doctor, including hypertension and diabetes.  A dentist can spot issues that a physician, who doesn't examine the mouth, often can't.  Furthermore, infections in the jaw and gums, including abscesses, that go undetected, can lead to heart attacks and strokes.

9.  To save money.  If decay is detected and treated in its early stages, it prevents the need for costlier treatment later.  For example, if decay reaches the tooth's pulp, it would result in the need for root canal therapy.  If that same decay was caught earlier, just a small filling would have been all that was needed.

10.  Seeing a dentist regularly will save lost time from work.  Surveys have shown that poor dental health results in lost productivity.  Dental pain prevents folks from going to work.  Secondary infections can result in serious illnesses that take more time away from work.