Regular dental cleaning - does it really help extend the life of your teeth?

[Back to NE]

Originally Posted by Bonnie Jean McGee

Yes it absolutely is.


I had a spell of bad health and went from having a full set of choppers to losing 6 in 6 months because my dental hygiene slipped.


They went from Perfect to Rotten in under that time - I had 6 root canals and 6 infections too.


The Pain, I cannot describe. Fortunately 3 of the 6 were wisdoms. Now I carefuly polish each individual tooth every day like I have OCD or something.


Your bones get worse as you age too and this is how some folk lose their teeth - the jaw rots rather than the teeth. The decay goes DOWNWARDS. Oh and it can spread too, from tooth to tooth, like a fungus.

Yikes. But at what point would someone forego the root canals and other painful "salvaging of original teeth" and get false teeth? It seems that folks with false teeth (and great false smiles) are happy with their new chompers. Any insight?

[pet1984]

Originally Posted by Back to NE

Yikes. But at what point would someone forego the root canals and other painful "salvaging of original teeth" and get false teeth? It seems that folks with false teeth (and great false smiles) are happy with their new chompers. Any insight?

It depends on the patient from what I've read. My stepfather had dentures, but I was too young (think late '80s, early '90ss) to remember if he liked them or not. I'm guessing not. He had terrible teeth, mind you. He was the type to chew on ice so of course that didn't help. Implants were not in his budget either. Some people don't like dentures cause of the kind they bought (not flexible or comfortable enough, the shape is cumbersome, the clasps irritate their mouth, they easily break). I figure the more you are willing to spend on your dentures helps your overall opinion of them. I think I need to get one for a single lower tooth I plan on having removed. I'm sure the cost for one will at least be a minimum of $500. And I want a Valpast so that alone will probably make them more expensive.

Mind you, I'm not in this life for the long haul. I'm only sticking around to care for my mom until she passes away. Others who need absolutely permanent solutions will probably want to spend a good amount on partial/full dentures, or just get the permanent implants or crowns.

Back to the original post topic... yes, regular cleanings do help. And I imagine they're even more important after you've had a root canal, or some kind of replacement put in. We can't go back to bad habits or we'll repeat the costly mistakes.

[stan4]

Totally worth it.

Go meet some people who have festering cavities, etc.

Eye opening.

[pet1984]

If you can't afford a lot of expensive work, at least get a cheap dental plan so you can have free/cheap regular cleanings 2x a year (now I know this is the only answer). Granted I think some dentists won't even give you the regular cleanings if periodontal disease is present. I saw that written in small print on the outdoor sign of a modern dental practice nearby.

Does a regular cleaning even help with very minor calculus on the teeth? I imagine they need to scrape below the gum lines.