Dental Advice for the Sweet Tooth


Prevention and Cure: Why Your Family Should Take Biannual Trips to the Dentist

Dentist Blog

It's recommended by experts that you visit the dentist for a checkup every six months - but lots of things are recommended by experts.  After all, many people don't get around to eating their two fruit and five vegetables a day.  And when was the last time you had an eye test?  By rights, it should be within the last two years, but many adults don't get around to it.  In other words, when everything is labelled as a priority, it's hard to know which advice can be put on the back burner and which should definitely be followed.  The biannual trips to the dentist's office are definitely in the latter category, especially if you have a young family.  Here's why.

Starting Out Right

Dentists recommend that babies have their first visit around the age of six months.  This is when their first teeth are likely to be coming through — and as any parent will know, it can be a difficult time.  So long as there are no other problems and you're confident with taking care of your child's teeth, they only need to begin biannual visits about a year after that.  It's especially important to take excellent care of children's baby teeth because they're more susceptible to decay and damage than adult teeth.  They don't have the strong coating that adult teeth do, which is just another reason to really reduce sugar intake in your child's diet where possible.  In any case, poor care of baby teeth can lead to abscesses that damage their developing adult teeth inside their gums.  Having this checkup every six months will help to eradicate these problems before they really take hold, if any should occur. 


Though your teeth are stronger than your child's and you may feel you have a good handle on dental care, it's still important to keep attending your appointments.  Following through with them will help to form your children's habits, both for now and in later life.  It may be a pain, especially if you're busy, but if your children see you taking your dental care seriously, then they will too.

Preventative Care

Again, as you have already developed good dental hygiene as an adult, it's entirely possible that you could develop problems in your teeth or gums as a result of general wear and tear, or, in the worst cases, mouth cancer.  Visiting the dentist often will allow them to keep track of the changes in your mouth and ensure you're not developing any problems which could result in damage or tooth loss down the line.  After all, dental care is just like every other aspect of your health in that prevention is much easier than cure, and visiting every six months will ensure that these things can be caught early.

In essence, sticking to a biannual routine for family dental checkups will ensure two things: firstly, that your whole family is set up for excellent lifelong dental health, and second, that you don't end up with any nasty shocks down the line.


23 June 2017