Dental Checks – It’s All About Tomorrow

A visit to a fellow dental office this week made me realize how important dental checkups are. Seeing the dentist and his assistants smiling and enthusiastically conducting the checkup with the thoroughness and attention to detail of true professionals, it actually made me smile.

But people often opt to skip regular dental checkups. Why go through the hassles of driving to the dental office, sitting on a cold seat while the dentist counts how many teeth there are with his assistant repeating the numbers and tapping the information into a keyboard? It seems like a waste of time and money to many. But if you think this way, then you are missing the whole point of dental checkups.

Looking for change

The value of a decent dental checkup is often about looking back, and probably more importantly, looking forward. A good dentist will look into the mouth and compare the current situation to the results from the last checkup, looking for change. Change can actually be good (e.g. less plaque, better brushing, flossing, etc.) or change can be bad (fillings wearing out, tooth decay, crowns cracking, etc.). Often the real value is in predicting what’s to come.

We all wish we could predict the future, but in dentistry it’s actually not that hard. Careful examination and an up-to-date dental history will provide strong clues as to how long our teeth and our general dental health will last. A good dentist can plan ahead for any problems “on the horizon” or those further down the line – 6, 12, 24 months or even 5 or 10 years ahead.

A good dentist can give you realistic predictions about the lifespan of your teeth and your dental prospects for the years ahead. So while a dental checkup may seem to be all about today, it’s in fact all about your tomorrow.