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Maintenance and Longevity

How to Keep Your Teeth

What would happen if you did not maintain your car? If you decided to never check or change the oil, to ignore the coolant levels, to consider brake and hydraulic fluid a luxury, would your car last very long? Manufacturers create maintenance recommendations for a reason — your car breaks down without consistent, regular care.

Your teeth are the same. They require consistent and regular care, which means brushing your teeth and least twice a day for two minutes each time and flossing daily. Yet just as a car needs a regular service visit, to check all the fluids, parts and lubricants, so too your teeth need to see a dentist twice a year. Failure to visit the dentist is a major reason why patients go from minor issues (such as plaque or tartar buildup) to major issues like gum disease, cavities, root canal and tooth loss.

Why You Visit the Dentist Regularly

Oral bacteria are persistent and fast-growing. While brushing and flossing your teeth “knocks them down,” you can never eliminate them entirely and they quickly reproduce exponentially. What’s more, most people brush in the morning before work or school, go throughout the day eating snacks, and then brush their teeth after dinner or before bed. That means that bacteria are thriving throughout the day on whatever you feed yourself, building their “coral reefs” of tartar to “house” their colonies. While the second brushing of the day works some of this plaque and tartar away, no one can remove all of it over the course of six months. Left in place, tartar irritates the gums, leading to gum disease and recession. Excessive oral bacteria wear away the enamel with the acids they excrete throughout the day.

A Dental Reboot

Enter your Placerville dentists and hygienists at the Placerville Dental Group. Your semi-annual trip to the dentist for an examination and cleaning accomplishes the following things:

  • Check for oral disease (such as cancer) and tooth decay or gingivitis,
  • Remove plaque and tartar above and below the gums,
  • Polish the teeth to fight back the inevitable staining of the enamel.

When you don’t visit the dentist, or go beyond six months between exams, progressive gum disease, excessive wear on the enamel and increased staining of the teeth are unavoidable. Regular visits to the dentist keep these things in check and prevent the need for larger and more expensive procedures — like fillings, crowns, extractions and implants or dentures.

So save yourself some money and additional trips to the dentist for reconstructive procedures — visit your Placerville dentist regularly! It’s the key to dental longevity.

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