Regular visits to the dentist for a check-up are essential not just for your dental health, but for your overall health and well being, too. One Smile Oral Care in West Malling welcomes new patients of all ages for consultations – whether you are new to the area and in need of a dentist, haven’t had treatment for some time (perhaps through dental phobia), or just fancy a change.
As a nation, we are getting better at visiting the dentist. A recent study found that 61% of English adults now visit the dentist on a regular basis, compared with just 44% back in 1978. However, a quarter of adults admitted they hadn’t visited a dentist in the past two years, which is bad news for both oral and general health.
It’s true that a general dental check-up is not the most glamorous thing in the world, but at our West Malling clinic we can never over-stress its importance. Even if you think that you have good oral health, brushing and flossing at least twice a day with teeth that look healthy, all too often problems lurk beneath.
Tooth decay and gum disease are the main causes of tooth loss in the UK, with gum disease being the lead cause in the over-35 age group. The trouble is that these conditions can be hard to spot at home. At our West Malling dental practice we use early decay techniques to look inside the teeth, checking that they are as healthy on the inside as the appear on the outside.
Your West Malling dentist can also spot the very early warning signs of gum disease, which several studies have linked to serious conditions including strokes, diabetes, heart and lung disease. The early gum problems are spotted, the easier they are for your dentist in West Malling to treat, before they become a major health concern.
Another important part of a general dental check-up at our West Malling clinic is to check for oral cancer. This disease still has a high ratio of deaths to number of cases diagnosed, and again early action is highly important to maximising your chances of recovery.