Many people don’t realize the impact dental problems can have on their lives until it is too late. The ability to enjoy eating, smiling, and socializing can all be significantly affected when oral health problems go unchecked and tooth loss begins. As problems grow, it also becomes harder and more expensive to fix them. Regular dental check ups and maintenance help you find and address issues early on.

• Plaque, Tartar, and Cavities: when left unchecked, these can cause pain and more importantly require fillings, extractions, and even root canals later!
• Gum Disease: Over time, untreated mouths can develop gingivitis and cause the gum to pull away from your teeth! This requires attention from specialists (periodontists) and can be expensive!  
• Bad Habits: smoking, grinding your teeth, or too much coffee can stain and damage your teeth. Visiting the dentist will help with these habits before they do any more damage.
• Hidden Problems: dental x-rays can show cavities undetectable with the naked eye, impacted teeth or wisdom teeth that are causing unknown problems and may need to be removed.
• Dental Checkup: Screening for cavities, gum disease, head and neck issues, and oral cancer are all part of our dental exams.

Here are 5 steps to A Healthy Mouth from the Canadian Dental Association.

A healthy recall schedule is every 3-6 months. We may recommend more frequent or less frequent visits depending on your oral health. This helps us catch small problems early and maintain dental health.

Read more about how 3 out of 4 Canadians are taking care of their teeth.

A healthy adult won’t need an x-ray after each visit, but someone with recurring decay, cavities or other complications will need x-rays more often. Usually, we recommend every 6 months to a year. We want to make sure we’re up to date on your oral health and x-rays help us do this.

Typically, this happens when your child is 2 ½ years old to 3 years old or as soon as their first tooth erupts.