Health Benefits of Seeing Your DentistWhy do you choose to visit your dentist? Most likely, you do so to benefit your oral health. You know that your teeth need care, so you pick out a reliable dental office – like Lakeside Dental– and make regular appointments. This is a wise move, as visiting dentist on a consistent basis is one of the best things you can do to benefit your long-term oral health.

However, did you know that the benefits of these dental visits can extend beyond your mouth? There are a number of overall health benefits which are associated with dental care. That means you may be doing more than taking care of your mouth each time you stop into our office – you may be helping your entire body stay healthy.

Let’s take a look at some of the way in which your general health may benefit as a result of seeing your dentist on a regular basis.

Start with the Heart

This is a big one, so let’s get it out of the way right off the bat. While the link is not clear, it has been shown that there is some association between chronic inflammation from gum disease and heart disease. To this point, there isn’t hard evidence to confirm or explain this link, yet plenty of doctors think that it exists. Maintaining healthy gums certainly isn’t going to guarantee your heart health, but it may be somewhere to start. Of course, there are plenty of other benefits to keeping your gums healthy beyond heart concerns, so this is just one of many potential reasons to see your dentist.

Positive Self Image

It is hard to feel healthy all around when you have a negative image of yourself. Many people feel bad about themselves on a day to day basis, and often those feelings stem from their physical appearance. Your smile plays a big role in your appearance, so if you don’t like the way your smile looks in pictures, you may not think highly of yourself overall.

Regular visits to the dentist can go a long way toward maintaining and improving your smile. While you should feel good about yourself no matter what you think of your appearance, taking some steps to brighten your smile may be just the boost you need. Speak with your dentist about any concerns you may have regarding the appearance of your teeth so you can learn about the various treatment options. Dr. Henderson a Mint Hill dentist adds that asking about dental treatments to brighten, restore, or transform your smile should be your main goal with a dental visit.

A Pattern of Care

Taking care of yourself involves a number of different tasks. Eating healthy is a big one, of course, as is getting some form of physical exercise on a regular basis. Beyond those basics, you will also want to seek out care for the various parts of your body. If you are already in the habit of caring for your oral health, it is likely that you’ll want to carry over that habit to the other parts of your body. Simply by thinking about keeping yourself healthy in one area, you may be more inclined to see your doctor and keep up with at-home habits that benefit your body as a whole. Letting your health slide in one area may be an invitation to let it slide in other areas as well – and you don’t want to go down that road. Keep up with your dental visits and do your best to care for all other parts of your body, as well.

Reducing the Presence of Bacteria

Bacteria can cause a number of problems within your body. Some of these issues may be serious, such as heart disease (as mentioned earlier) and stroke. If you have poor oral health, there is a good chance that you will have an elevated number of bacteria in your mouth, and those bacteria may make their way to other parts of the body, where they can cause trouble. Again here, the link is not easily proven scientifically, but it does seem that those with periodontitis tend to be at an elevated risk for other health issues and that bacteria may be the culprit.

Fighting back against oral bacteria not only involves seeing your dentist regularly, but it also requires consistent oral health care at home. Simple steps like brushing your teeth regularly are a great place to start. When you do visit your dentist, he or she will be able to look for signs of oral health problems and recommend treatments to get things back on track.

Health for Your Bank Account

Okay, so this last one takes a bit of a departure from the topic of physical health, but who doesn’t like a healthy bank account? If you stick with a schedule of regularly visiting your dentist for checkups and cleanings, you may be able to save yourself a significant amount of money in the long run. Think of these visits as an investment in your future. By staying on top of your oral health in the short term, it is less likely that you will run into a major dental issue down the line. And if you are able to avoid such an issue in the future, you won’t need to pay the sizable bill that comes with it. A dental visit doesn’t have to take much time out of your day, and sacrificing that small amount of time now could continue to pay off for years to come.

At Lakeside Dental, we believe in the power of dental care. Not only do we take pride in helping our patients maintain a high standard of oral health, we also strive to help them maintain good overall health. We treat all of our patients like neighbors, and we want to see our neighbors thrive well into the future. If you have any questions about the benefits of dental care, or about our services here in Moses Lake, Washington please contact us right away.