Preventive Dental Treatment in Las Vegas
Save money and head tooth problems off with preventative dentistry from High End Dental in Las Vegas. After all, optimal dental health is not only taking care of issues when they arise, it is about preventing them before they start as well.
Healthy Habits At Home!
Your parents probably told you time and time again to brush your teeth. You need to brush when you wake up, after meals, and before you go to bed for the night. This helps to remove plaque and bacteria that has collected in your mouth during the day.
Don’t forget to brush your tongue as well because that will also help make your breath fresher. Fluoride toothpaste is often recommended, but toothpaste recommended by the American Dental Association is the best option for cleaning your mouth.
Don't Forget to Floss!
Flossing helps you get into all of the hard-to-reach places between your teeth, so it is an important way to get all of the food particles from between your teeth. There is a right and a wrong way to floss your teeth and flossing with braces on may require a different cleaning technique.
If you are unsure if you are flossing correctly, then find a dentist at our Las Vegas Orthodontics office who can give you a demonstration.
Eat Right For Health Teeth!
Another way to prevent issues with your teeth is to provide them with the proper nutrients to keep them strong and healthy. Limit the amount of sugar that you eat and drink plenty of water to help keep sugary drinks from damaging your teeth. When you drink a lot of sweet drinks, the sugar just sits on your teeth, which creates a breeding ground for cavities.
Dental Exams & Deep Cleaning
Another way to practice preventative dentistry is to visit your dentist once a year to check your teeth and gums for any issues. The dental specialists at our Las Vegas office can offer exams to clean your teeth and take care of any general dentistry needs that you have.
Sealants
A sealant is a thick coating that is made from a plastic material. This coating is applied to the surfaces of your teeth to help protect them from decay. Often the sealants are positioned on the backs of your teeth, but they can adhere to any of the surfaces of your teeth. They are designed to seal small food particles out of the small depressions and indents in your teeth. All of those hard-to-reach areas will be covered so that the risk of tooth decay is decreased.
Anyone can invest in having sealants attached to their teeth. If you are trying to prevent tooth decay in the mouth of your child, then the children's dentists at our Las Vegas location recommend that the sealants are positioned on the teeth as soon as their adult teeth have fully pushed through their gums. Children are the most likely to get cavities in their preteens, but this process can start as early as six years of age when their baby teeth begin to fall out.
Some of the best dentists in Las Vegas also place dental sealants on the back of a child’s baby tooth. This only occurs when the tooth is damaged and prone to cavities. Keeping your child’s baby teeth healthy will help to ensure that their permanent teeth do not come in crooked; preventing them from needing braces in the future.
Getting sealants in your mouth is a painless process. It only takes a few minutes; in fact, the preparation actually takes longer than the application. Your teeth need to be thoroughly cleaned and dried. An acidic-based solution is then placed on the surface of your tooth, which will texture it so that the sealant can adhere better.
The sealant is then layered onto the tooth where it hardens and protects your teeth for about ten years. If chipping occurs before that amount of time has passed, the professionals at our office can look at the condition of the sealants to see if replacements are required.
Fluoride Therapy
Another type of preventative care that is often used to protect your teeth is fluoride therapy. Rather than simply prevent damage from occurring, fluoride actually repairs the damage that has already occurred before it becomes a bigger dental issue. There are two types of fluoride therapy treatments that you can take part in to re-mineralize your teeth.
The first is a topical application and the other is a systemic therapy. Topical fluoride therapies are simple applications like brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste, mouthwash, gels, or varnishes. Systemic fluoride therapies are treatments in which fluoride is ingested. This means that the fluoride was added to your drinking water or swallowed in tablet form.
Teeth that have been exposed to fluoride are typically stronger than those that were not. Having fluoride therapy does not mean that all cavities will be prevented. However, it does mean that you have a much smaller chance of getting a cavity, especially if you receive a regular dose of fluoride.
Most of the public water supply in the country contains fluoride, so if you get fluoride in the water that you drink, your dentist in Las Vegas may find that other fluoride therapy may not be needed.
Benefits of Preventative Dentistry
When you take the initiative and try to prevent dental issues from developing in the future, you can often decrease the number of cavities that you experience over the years. It will also help reduce gingivitis and the loss of the enamel that is on your teeth.
