Preventive Dentistry

Preventive Dentistry

As the name suggests, Preventive Dentistry is the practice of caring and looking after your teeth and gums to make them healthy and strong. This method helps prevent the occurrence of cavities, gum disease, tooth loss, enamel wear, and other oral diseases.

This is one of the most important areas in dentistry as it focuses on prevention rather than the cure. This is extremely important as it not only keeps us away from painful experience and expensive treatments but also makes our oral health naturally strong. Due to advancements in technology today, there are now numerous forms of preventive dentistry making it easier to maintain our oral health.

Dental Practices in Preventive Dentistry

Preventive dentistry focuses on one thing and that is to avoid oral diseases. This is why dentist uses many numerous methods to keep our oral health in good condition.
Below are some examples:

• Brushing your teeth
  Brushing your teeth may be a common advice we always hear but this is because it is the most important method in preventive dentistry as it serves as our first line of defense from oral diseases. Brushing not only removes dirt,bacteria,cavities and odor but also protects our teeth. This is why it is important to partner it with a fluoride toothpaste and brush it 3-4 times a day to keep our teeth clean and fresh.
• Flossing
  Flossing our teeth is a significant factor to ensure a clean teeth. It cleans outs any particles left out by brushing in-between our teeth. Make sure to ask your dentist the proper way to floss. For people wearing braces, the dentist will advise them to use floss threader to make it easier to clean.
• Dental Cleaning
  This is usually done every time we visit our dentist. Dental cleaning thoroughly cleans the teeth by removing hard to remove plaque, deposits and tatar. It is a non-invasive treatment that involves tooth scaling, polishing, debridement.
• Sealants
  Sealants are used to prevent tooth decay and is applied in our molars and premolars. It serves as a barrier on the tooth’s surface to protect it from any decays.
• Serial extraction
  Unlike tooth extraction, serial extraction is a planned removal of tooth to lead the erupting permanent tooth to a more favorable position. It helps prevent teeth crowding. This procedure is usually done as early as 8-9 years old.
• Space maintainers
  These are custom made materials that is placed to maintain space for the erupting tooth. It keeps an open space to allow the eruption of teeth into the right place.

Benefits of Preventive Dentistry

1. keeps our teeth healthy and strong
   Proper guidance of maintaining teeth will make our teeth healthy and strong. Avoiding eating foods with too much sugar, drinking carbonated drinks and caffeine.
2. Prevents cavities and tooth decay
   Dental cleaning and proper brushing helps prevent cavities and tooth decay. This is the reason why it is important to visit your dentist every 6 months and to brush your teeth 3-4 times a day.
3. Prevents malalignment of teeth
   Early treatment of improper eruption of teeth prevents malalignment such as placing spacing maintainers to keep an open space for the tooth to grow.
4. Prevents secondary diseases such as:
   • Heart disease
   • Diabetes
   • Respiratory diseases
   • Cancer
   • Osteoperosis