What is preventative dentistry?
Preventative dentistry is where we take a preventative approach to your oral health. We’ll set you up to maintain a healthy oral routine at home: brushing morning and night and being sure to floss and mouthwash once a day. As well as your personal routine, we’ll schedule you in to visit us every six months for a dental clean and check up.
What benefits does preventative dentistry offer you?
Keeping your teeth in a clean and healthy condition prevents tooth decay and gum disease, and works to prevent costly dental treatments. Regular check ups also work to prevent these costly treatments as our detailed dental examinations can spot issues like tooth decay, long before a full filling is required. Once spotted, we can address the issue and help you get back on the path to optimal oral health.
We tailor each preventive treatment plan to your unique circumstances. Our state of the art diagnostic, therapeutic, and support services allow us greater flexibility in providing individual care plans.
Diet and Decay
Your teeth, bones and the soft tissues in your mouth require a healthy and well balanced diet. A balanced diet that enjoys foods from all five food groups helps you minimise and avoid cavities. We know that sugary snacks and drinks are no good for your teeth, but most snack food you’ll find will damage your teeth. Healthier snack food such as vegetables and low-fat yoghurt and cheeses will promote stronger, healthier teeth.
When your teeth and gums are exposed to large amounts of starch or sugar, they’ll react with the natural bacterias in your mouth. Together, they’ll form an acid that eats away at your tooth enamel. Food and drink like lollies, juices, or soft drinks cause deposits in your teeth. These bond with bacteria and form plaque on the teeth. Deposits and plaque together can also form those acids — this leads to decaying.
Preventative Dentistry: Why brush and floss regularly
Brushing and flossing regularly removes the plaque build up on your teeth and gums. Failing to remove this plaque can cause inflammation in your gums that results in gingivitis (where your gums bleed while brushing) and in some cases can lead to infection of the bone (periodontitis).
Gum disease usually goes unnoticed because it all happens under the gum-line in the collar of your gum tissue around the tooth. You may not be aware of the ongoing loss of bone support around the tooth. So, if you smoke, have a family history of tooth loss, or brush your teeth ineffectively, you may be at risk of losing your teeth to periodontal disease.
Gum disease affects over 80% of adults at some point in their life and is the main cause of adult tooth loss in Australia. With regular radiographic examinations, our team may intercept the progression of gum disease and stop it in its tracks.
Preventative dentistry helps you keep your oral health in perfect check.
