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Preventive Dentistry: Let’s Master It Together!

Your teeth play a vital role in your overall well-being each and every day. Not only do they impact your eating and speaking function, they also contribute to your overall self-confidence and mental wellness.

A healthy smile will not only transform your visual appearance and your mindset, but it will also improve your oral and overall health. This is why preventive dentistry is as important as caring for your teeth every day with your attentive home care routine.

To maintain optimal oral health, our dental association recommends visiting us, your dentist in Longmont, at least twice annually – or more depending on your individual needs. This will ensure that your teeth are clean and healthy, as well as esthetically pleasing.

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What is preventive dentistry?

Preventive dentistry is a means of intercepting damage to your teeth and mouth due to decay, gum disease, oral cancer, cracks, infection, and more.

Preventive care includes:

  • Regular homecare (brushing twice a day and flossing once a day)
  • Regular visits to Dental Horizons, where you'll receive:
    1. thorough professional cleanings
    2. repair of chips or cracks
    3. decay intervention
    4. oral cancer checks
    5. gum disease diagnosis & treatment plans
  • Receiving, accepting, and implementing dental care information and tips from us, your dentist in Longmont, including:
    1. brushing & flossing instruction
    2. wearing a mouthguard when playing sports that have are known for high dental injury rates (hockey, basketball, in-line skating, football, soccer, etc.)
    3. wearing a nightguard to prevent damage from bruxism (grinding and clenching)
    4. not using your teeth as tools

Benefits of preventive dentistry include:

Research continues to highlight connections between oral health and overall health. While we used to look at your mouth as a completely individual and separate entity, we now know that every system is connected and that poor oral health negatively affects specific health problems. Here’s a short list of connections to keep top of mind:

  • Diabetes – Diabetics are more likely to have gum disease, perhaps because they are more susceptible to infections. People with diabetes who have gum disease have more difficulty controlling blood sugar levels. One works against the other.
  • Alzheimer’s Disease – The mouth bacteria called Porphyromonas gingivalis that destroys gum tissue has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, as it increases plaques associated with the disease. Research continues.
  • Heart Disease – If you have untreated gum disease, your chances of developing heart disease increase by about 300%.
  • Stroke – If you have undiagnosed or untreated gum disease, you are much more likely to suffer a stroke. Make sure you keep your regular recall appointments!
  • Chronic Kidney Disease – Chronic kidney disease can appear on its own or alongside diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Obesity, a risk factor for periodontitis, is also associated with chronic kidney disease. The networks are complex, and we’re yet to discover exactly how they connect.
  • Osteoporosis – Periodontitis and osteoporosis could be a risk factor for each other.
  • Respiratory Diseases – Gum disease, an inflammatory disease, can worsen inflammation that has occurred due to lung diseases (such as asthma and COPD).
  • and more!

As a critical part of your healthcare team, all of us at Dental Horizons are trained to keep an eye out for oral symptoms you may otherwise overlook. Some of these include:

  • Routine dental radiographs can reveal a potential risk of stroke by exposing unusual calcium deposits in the carotid arteries in the neck.
  • Over 35,000 new cases of oral cancers are diagnosed each year in North America. If caught early, the five-year survival rate can be as high as 90%. When oral cancer is identified late or not at all, the rate drops significantly.
  • Other diseases that we can detect in their early stages include epilepsy, hemophilia, leukemia, malignant melanoma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and tuberculosis. You can help by pointing out any changes you notice, even trivial ones like a small canker or cold sore that doesn’t heal after two weeks.

As your dentist in Longmont, our focus is on you and your oral and overall health. We want to help you live your best life, and because your mouth is the gateway to your overall health, it provides all sorts of clues about your health. We mean it when we compassionately say that you should never skip or continually postpone your recall appointments with us!

Call us at (720) 526-3146 to receive the care you need today!

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