I’m really busy right now, so I’m going to skip the dentist, okay?

15th September 2015

You know how we all have our cars regularly serviced? We do this so that the car can operate as we need it to, getting us from A to B. Imagine if we didn’t!!! We wouldn’t be surprised if one day it didn’t start or made weird noises from the engine. The mechanic would tell us that it needs major repair work, which could have been avoided, if only we had have had the car serviced regularly. We’d kick ourselves for not making the time for regular services.

Same goes for our oral health. Our bodies are a true marvel of biological engineering. They can keep going, even when faced with issues. Then again, tiny injuries like paper cuts can hurt really badly! The struggle is real.

Our teeth can adapt and compensate, even in the face of decay and infection, often not even hurting at all. However it can have a huge impact on our general health.

We can be lulled into a false sense of security and we think it’s no biggie if we skip the dentist for a year, or two, or… five. But it does matter.

There’s only a small window of opportunity to fix issues, so you need to be on top of your dentist appointment-making game at all times.

As a dentist, I really don’t like giving people bad news like I had to recently, when I told a patient I would have to remove a tooth, which would have been unnecessary if she had have come in for regular check ups. Often when patients come in with a toothache that has just started, it’s already too late, as was the case with my recent patient.  

Here are the top three reasons why it’s important to have regular dentist check ups:

1. Less expensive in the long run
You know what this means, more money for things. We all like things!

2. Better teeth when you’re older
Yes! Regular check ups now means you will still be able to eat a fresh, crisp apple and corn on the cob in your senior years.

3. Prevention means less scary procedures
These days, dental procedures are much less painful than the methods used in the past, but do you really want to risk it? Now that we’ve established that you want to save money, eat crunchy food when you’re older and not have to worry about scary dental procedures, I think we can all agree that regular, preventative dentist check-ups are a must!

Just remember, a service is great for your car, but it’s more important for your teeth, by far.

Don’t forget! Here are three easy things you can do to make your dentist trips quick and painless:

1.     Clean your teeth thoroughly twice a day
2.     Limit eating sugar and drinking sugary drinks
3.     Avoid acidic foods  

If you follow these three easy steps and see us regularly, you’ll be home free with a lovely set of pearly whites! If you need more convincing, you could look up the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare’s dental and oral health page on this link http://www.aihw.gov.au/dental-and-oral-health/ or even Google-image search dental disease. Be warned though, the search results are pretty gruesome…

We hope to see you for your next check up!

~ Dr Aaron Wong
   Dentists of Hawthorn