Seeing is Believing
The hardest job
for a dentist is to explain to patients the need for dental care before
it HURTS or BREAKS.
I hear it every day “if it’s not broken then don’t fix it”. The problem is if you wait until it hurts or
breaks, you have waited TOO LONG! That’s where the cost of dentistry goes way
up. When you go the tire store the
technician generally put a penny in the grove of the tire to illustrate how
worn it is. If your tire is excessively
worn you risk the possibility of bad traction which can lead to an accident. Do
you drive with worn tires or do you get new ones? If you let your old restorations wear out you
are at a higher risk of your filling cracking or leaking. This can lead to more serious decay resulting
in a crown or infection leading to the possibility of the root of your tooth
dying. Once the root dies you will need a root canal followed by a crown. I ask
myself all the time why people don’t question the need for a new tire but they question
or disregard recommended treatment for their dental health!!
In today’s world Dentists have 2 tools to help you “see” your own teeth
and help you see with your own eyes why you need to accept your dentist’s
prescribed care. All x-rays let your
dentist see the inside of a tooth and help them diagnosis cavities, bone loss,
abscesses and abnormalities to name a few items. Digital X-rays deliver 90% LESS
radiation then the typical film x-rays. With
the aid of the digital x-ray your dentist can display the x-ray of your tooth
on a monitor and it can be printed up on a large scale. Your dentist can point
out all of his or her concerns to you with the visual aid of the x-ray. The
second popular tool dentists use today is a hand held intra-oral camera, which
is the size of a pen. It can magnify a tooth up to 90 times. Generally your dentist projects the image on a
computer screen or a TV screen. By magnifying your tooth, your dentist can
point out to you the small cracks in your teeth, how much your fillings have
worn down, color changes in your gum tissue and on your teeth, and many other
abnormalities that are not picked up on x-rays. These are very important observations and
complete the picture of the health of your mouth.
Please don’t put off changing out those old fillings for new ones if
your dentist suggests it to you. You
will save your tooth and also save a lot of money!!
Please remember to
swish, floss, brush and swish again every day and see your dentist regularly.
Please visit my website roberthwaldmandds.com
and click on the Dental Video tab to learn about many dental procedures.
Keep smiling.
J Dr. Rob
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