Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Dentistry Expensive?


Is Dentistry Expensive?



Oral health. Is it expensive or not? The answer is that oral health is not expensive. Oral disease on the other hand is very expensive, affects quality of life, and can literally be life threatening.
Oral health:  Six toothbrushes per year, $25.  Six tubes of toothpaste per year, $25.  Four 50 yard boxes of dental floss per year, $20.  For a professional to monitor your oral health, coach you in areas indicated and polish your teeth too if you are a smoker or heavy coffee drinker, a dental check up with x-rays is about $210.  If you are high-risk for oral disease (smokers and sugar addicts) a second check up each year without X-rays is about $160.  Grand total, $440 if you are the high-risk patient.  That is less than you'll pay for the insurance/benefit policy.
Dental disease on the other hand is very expensive.  One small cavity will nearly double your annual dental professional cost.  Dental disease can easily cost a person $100,000 over her/his adult years if the disease, "caries," is not controlled.
What can you do?

1. Be an effective tooth brusher.  Have you learned from your dental professional how to measure your own effectiveness brushing your own teeth?  Most people spend too much time and are not effective.  Be able to check how well you have cleaned your teeth any day.  You can check our website.http://www.thisismytownusa.com/winning-with-smiles.php#contact_us

2. Be a Flosser.  The toothbrush cannot clean between your teeth and under bridges.  Most people don't floss and over 70% of all dental treatment is due to problems between the teeth.  100% of your gum disease problems will start between your teeth.
3. Get the sugar out.  In the last 40 years the average American's consumption of sugar has increased by 7 times.  Eat wisely!

4. Control the snack frequency.  If the teeth have long rest periods between meals, they can re-mineralize (heal) themselves.  Today's habits of sipping, sucking on hard candies, chewing sweet gums or popping those little mints is ruining teeth faster than anything in history.  If you chew gum or pop mints, choose ones sweetened with 100% xylitol, a long proven inhibitor of cavity formation.

Beverage sippers.  Beverages have so many problems for your health, I have an entire essay on my website devoted to them.  Just choose water.
Need more information, click HERE for Winning with Smiles.com

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Welcome to Winning With Smiles - Pediatric Dentistry. We are dedicated to cavity free, healthy beautiful smiles. We look forward to the opportunity to share with you what we know about creating optimal oral health for growing children. We understand oral health is closely tied to general health and like to work closely with the family physician. Oral health is also closely tied to family life and lifestyle. That is why we like to have the family involved with dental appointments. What we teach our patients works best if understood and supported by the family and will benefit the family as well. We enjoy working with parent and siblings present. We have been learning from families since 1974. With the family present, open questions lead to family learning. We are dedicated to your oral health.