How Preventive Dental Care Can Impact Your Overall Health

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Burns Dentistry Sun City & Sun City West, AZ.

Healthy Mouth, Healthy You

Benefits of Preventative Care

Here are five reasons preventive care is key to keeping your mouth and gums healthy, and in turn, help protect your overall health:

1. Detects problems early: The earlier we can spot tooth decay, gum, or periodontal disease, the better we can treat them before extensive damage is done.
2. Prevents decay and cavities: Regular brushing and flossing, combined with regular professional cleanings, can prevent these problems in the first place.
3. Strengthens your teeth: Using fluoride toothpaste helps protect and strengthen your teeth by promoting the reabsorption of essential minerals like calcium and phosphate. Plus, it can help protect your teeth from acid attacks produced by sugar and even reverse a cavity in the very early stages.
4. Improves your oral and overall health: Dental decay can cause periodontal disease, which in turn increases your risk of heart disease. Certain conditions, such as high blood sugar, can even be detected early with regular dental checkups. Signs and symptoms of some systemic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and diabetes, might show up in the mouth first. Preventive care also includes screenings for oral cancer, which is critical to detect early.
5. Saves you money: Preventive care is much less costly than treating the results of dental decay and other issues that can develop without regular visits and proper at-home care. It is better to avoid tooth extractions and other restorative or cosmetic dental procedures if possible and the costs associated with maintaining them. Plus, dental emergencies caused by oral diseases result in millions of hours of lost school hours and billions of dollars in lost productivity in the U.S. every year.