Dental cleanings should be scheduled regularly – twice a year, at least, though some patients may require additional visits between every two to six months, depending on their dental health – to avoid the build-up of plaque and various other potential problems, including periodontal inflammation or the development of tooth decay.
While many consider them an expensive nuisance, the truth is that regular dental cleanings are incredibly important to your long-term dental health, financially prudent in terms of the amount of money they could save you in the long term, and quick, painless appointments from which it is easy to quickly move on.
Perhaps most importantly, if you can stick to a regular schedule of dental cleanings, your long-term costs for dental care will be markedly reduced, and you’ll stick to quick, painless cleanings instead of the more involved, potentially uncomfortable procedures that will be required if you develop a serious dental health issue. Your best course for fiscal and oral health is to commit yourself to scheduling regular dental cleanings.
Perhaps the highlight of dental cleanings is the range of treatment a patient receives, as well as the range of resulting long-term benefits. At a cleaning, a patient may receive many types of treatment, depending on the dental professional in question and the patient’s needs, but cleanings often include supra gingival scaling to remove plaque and tartar, tooth polishing, debridement of tartar beneath the gum and periodontal charting. In addition to these treatments, however, a longer-term benefit to patients is often the education they receive from dental professionals while at a cleaning; patients can receive instruction on the proper technique for brushing and flossing, nutritional advice if necessary, and further recommendations regarding personal oral hygiene and home care. This aforementioned information can provide the foundation for patients to maintain their dental health consistently over the years, thereby eliminating the need for additional dental procedures and saving the patient money in the process.
