Teeth cleanings are beneficial for many reasons, but you may be wondering how often you really need to go to the dentist to have your teeth cleaned professionally? Is it really necessary to go to the dentist every six months? The answer is yes, even if you brush twice a day and floss your teeth daily. Having your teeth cleaned professionally will not only have a positive impact on your pearly whites, but it will also impact your overall health in positive ways. At Green Tree Dental, we recommend that our patients get bi-annual dental check-ups and cleanings to keep their teeth in the best condition possible.
When you get your teeth professionally cleaned, the dental hygienist uses special tools to remove excess plaque from the teeth. Of course, when your brush and floss you remove plaque too, but you can’t remove all of the plaque before it hardens into tartar. And once you have tartar deposits on your teeth, your toothbrush just isn’t enough! You need to have a trained professional remove those deposits in order to keep your gums and teeth healthy for years to come. If you leave the tartar for too long, it will start to impact your gum health and even your general well-being. But two teeth cleanings annually can prevent the buildup of tartar on the teeth.
Every time you get your teeth cleaned at Green Tree Dental you also get an exam which means that the dentist will be able to discover oral health issues before they turn into a major problem. When you get a teeth cleaning twice a year, your dentist will be able to detect signs of tooth decay or gum disease at their earliest stages. If something changes in regard to your oral health between visits, it will be easy for the dentist to see the problem and address it before it gets out of hand. You won’t need to get x-rays at every 6-month dental cleaning visit. Rather, the dentist will use other tools including, primarily just a visual inspection.
Some patients may need to be seen more often than every 6 months for a teeth cleaning and a dental exam. At Green Tree Dental, we have patients who visit the office quarterly in order to prevent issues from developing. These patients may have a rapid rate of decay and they may tend to develop cavities quickly. Regular, frequent dental check-ups can help prevent the development of major dental problems especially if patients have diabetes, are pregnant, or they have gum disease. Smokers also need to visit the dentist more often to check for the development of dental problems and anyone with gum disease will need to commit to at least bi-annual dental visits in order to clear up this problem.
Dental cleanings are paid for by many insurance providers because insurance companies know that good dental hygiene costs them less in overall health costs over time. Many insurance companies pay for up to two dental cleanings and exams per year so there are no excuses for not going to the dentist to get the work done!
Another reason why patients should make the effort to get two weekly cleanings done per year is because dental cleanings make the teeth look and feel good! Patients feel better about their smile when they’ve had their teeth cleaned regularly. And having regular teeth cleanings reduces the likelihood that you’ll need to have teeth removed or have cavities filled. As a result, patients who get their teeth cleaned twice per year tend to feel better about their smile than patients who get their teeth done with less frequency.
At Green Tree Dental, our goal is to keep our patients’ teeth healthy for a lifetime. The more that we get to play a role in the patient’s dental hygiene through professional teeth cleanings and dental treatments, the more power we have to keep your teeth healthy. If you have trouble adhering to a toothbrushing schedule and making sure that your teeth get brushed at least twice a day, then it could pay off big for you to get your teeth cleaned twice a year. Other important predisposing factors that could lead to tooth or gum decay are legitimate reasons why teeth cleaning should be done every six months include the following:
- Does brush with toothpaste or drinking water that does not contain fluoride?
- Do you love to snack on sweets?
- Do you forget to floss?
- Do you brush your teeth less than two times per day?
- Do you visit the dentist for check-ups only because you feel pain in your teeth or gums?
- Do you need new fillings every time you go to the dentist?
- Do you wear dentures, Invisalign, or braces?
- Do you suffer from diabetes or another type of chronic disease?
- Do you often notice that your mouth is dry?
If you answered “yes” to many of these questions, then you may need to see your dentist at least twice a year to avoid developing major dental issues.
At Green Tree Dental, we know that dental health goes hand-in-hand with overall health which is why regular, bi-annual teeth cleaning appointments are necessary. Chronic health issues are a reason to visit the dentist more frequently in order to avoid the development of major dental issues. And, if you have a problem with bleeding gums, a bi-annual check-up is also important. In the long-run, regular dental check-ups and cleanings will save you lots of money in big treatment costs and they’ll also help you avoid lots of pain and difficulty. Because insurance will often pay for two dental visits each year that include cleaning and a quick exam, the cost of these visits will be negligible. On the other hand though, if you fail to go to the dentist twice a year, you may eventually receive the bad news that a major dental treatment is in your future. Rather than set yourself up for a major dental disaster, visit the dentist twice a year at six-month intervals and get your teeth cleaned. Then you can relax between visits with peace of mind knowing that your dental health is in good hands!
