A routine dental examination can detect symptoms of more than 125 diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, anemia, stomach ulcers, osteoporosis and kidney disease. Regular checkups and cleanings can save you the pain and expense of future problems. Dental insurance keeps these visits affordable and is a cost-effective way to minimize health care costs for you and your family. The American Dental Hygienists Association estimates for every $1 spent on prevention or oral health care, as much as $8 to $50 is saved on future emergency and restorative procedures. Using your dental insurance for regular dental checkups can improve your health by helping you:
1) Prevent Oral Cancer: According to The Oral Cancer Foundation, someone dies from oral cancer every hour of every day in the United States alone. When you have your dental cleaning, your dentist is also screening you for oral cancer, which is highly curable if diagnosed early.
2) Prevent Gum Disease: Gum disease is an infection in the gum tissues and bone that keep your teeth in place and is one of the leading causes of adult tooth loss. If diagnosed early, it can be treated and reversed. If treatment is not received, a more serious and advanced stage of gum disease may follow. Regular dental cleanings and checkups, flossing daily and brushing twice a day are key factors in preventing gum disease.
3) Help Maintain Good Physical Health: Recent studies have linked heart attacks and strokes to gum disease, resulting from poor oral hygiene. A dental cleaning every six months helps to keep your teeth and gums healthy and could possibly reduce your risk of heart disease and strokes,as well as many other serious conditions.
4) Keep Your Teeth: Since gum disease is one of the leading causes of tooth loss in adults, regular dental checkups and cleanings, brushing and flossing are vital to keeping as many teeth as you can. Keeping your teeth means better chewing function and ultimately, better health.
5) Prevent the Need for Advanced Treatment: Your dentist and hygienist are be able to detect early signs of problems with teeth and gums that can be treatable. If these problems go untreated, root canals, gum surgery and removal of teeth could become the only treatment options available.
6) Have a Bright and White Smile: Your dental hygienist can remove most tobacco, coffee and tea stains. During your cleaning, your hygienist will also polish your teeth to a beautiful shine.
7) Protect your children’s health: Tooth decay is the most common chronic childhood disease, five times more common than asthma and results in a loss of 51 million school hours each year. Regular checkups can help prevent tooth decay in your children.
