Oral Health and Genetic Risk Factors

Are You Seeing Your Dentist Enough?

Dentists perform a vital service that helps millions of Australians a year, but still, many more try to avoid them as much as they can. For some reason, the idea of getting your teeth inspected and potentially minor procedures done on them makes a large percentage of the population uncomfortable. This, unfortunately, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts because the longer you go without seeing the dentist, the greater your chances of needing to see one for a more serious cleaning or even an operation. Here are three signs that you might need to see the dentist a bit more often than you do right now.

Sore Gums

Dentists do not just treat the teeth, in fact, they often spend a large period of time of your appointment investigating your gums. Gum protection is very important because if they start to recede, which they can with poor care, then it is virtually impossible to get them back. If your gums are sore, or they bleed when you brush your teeth, you could have some kind of periodontal disease that requires immediate investigation. When caught early, this is not so much a problem, as there is a quick and easy fix, but if you wait, then you can get a serious infection.

Constant Headaches

While this is not always the case, if you are getting consistent headaches, then there are a number of ways that this could be connected to your teeth and you just don't know it. Whether this is through an infected tooth or a jawbone that is under too much pressure because you never got your wisdom teeth pulled, headaches can be a symptom of poor dental care. Your regular doctor might have even suggested this is the case, and you should see a dentist as soon as you can if this is the case, or if you have no other idea where the headaches may be coming from.

Chipped Or Damaged Teeth

Whether you did it on a drunken night out or simply playing sport with your friends, many people will chip or damage a tooth in their lifetime. If the chip is not that big, or it happened to one of the teeth not at the forefront of your mouth, then many people will simply leave it and think they got away with a close shave. However, if the tooth is not stablised and possibly given a crown of some kind, then you have no idea whether or not the overall structure is damaged and if it could get infected. Always see a dentist as soon as your teeth suffer any trauma.

If you need help, contact a local dentist to get professional services.


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