The Importance of Preventive Care

Since there were no dentists, toothbrushes, dental floss or any real concept of dental care many older tribe members who had lost teeth or had no teeth, survived by eating foods that were soft or foods that were mashed up by family members, so they could be consumed without chewing. This probably kept them alive since they had no teeth but it also limited their diets significantly and impaired their ability to have a healthy well rounded diet.

Thankfully today we have a vast array of dental care options available at our fingertips that the Ancient Native Americans didn’t have and we don’t have to live without our teeth or rely on family members to supply us with mashed up soft foods to survive. If we lose our teeth today due to dental decay or disease, there are options available including bridges or dentures to make sure we can eat without any outside assistance.

But most of us take eating and chewing for granted. We don’t think twice about our teeth as tools for survival until we come to the point where we need dentures or bridgework to eat and chew. Well maybe we think twice. At least twice a day when we brush our teeth we are thinking about them.
But thinking about our dental care in such a limited capacity can be dangerous. We take our teeth for granted and trust that they will always be there but the truth is without proper dental care your teeth may have a shorter life span they you do. In order to maintain your healthy smile you need to think about your teeth beyond just brushing them.

Part of that plan for proper dental care includes seeing your dentist at least twice a year to have your teeth professional cleaned and have yearly check-ups to look for decay. Your dentist is your best source for preventive care and can help ensure you are doing everything you can to keep your mouth healthy.

Preventive dental care can make going to the dentist a lot less painful and a lot less expensive. Your dentist can make sure any developing tooth decay is caught before it becomes a painfully expensive root canal and they can also catch gum disease such as gingivitis in its tracks before it affects your bone density of your jaw, which it can do if left untreated and unchecked. Be sure to talk to your dentist about what you can do to maintain better oral health and follow the advice they give you so you can outlive your teeth instead of the other way around.