Save Money With Dental Checkups

You can never save too much. If you look closely on the ‘art of spending’, saving on the things or services you purchase is a form of success. And this concept applies to everything in life, even your dental care; well, especially on your dental care. So if you can, you might want to save some bucks out of it. But just how to do this? Having regular dental checkups with the dentist can save you plenty of money and here’s the reason why.

How regular checkups help save you a lot of money?

Dental treatments are never cheap. Your regular checkups may not look cheap either. How much does a checkup cost? A dental exam and some x-rays may range anywhere from $50 to $150 depending on each individual office. On a regular dental cleaning alone, you will have to prepare anywhere from $50 to $135; again depending on each individual dental office and also if you are a child or an adult. But if you have dental insurance, you might pay a minimal amount or nothing at all for these services.

But just how can you save if you have to go to regular checkups every six months? Where is the saving factor?

1. Dental checkups help early detection of dental problems like cavities, gum disease, infections and oral cancer. Treatment on these oral problems at an early stage will be cheaper than the extensive treatment of dental problems in their advanced stages. This will save you a lot of expensive dental treatments in the future. For example, your dentist may catch and diagnose a small cavity which if left untreated, it will get bigger and deeper; hence the cost will be higher. If the cavity gets deep enough and gets to the nerve, then you would need a root canal and the cost can increase 7 fold. As another example, if gum disease is caught at its early stages called gingivitis, your dentist can treat it quickly and a lot less expensive than if it was caught at its later stages. Also, if caught early, you can prevent bone loss and keep your teeth for a lifetime rather than later stages and end up needing more extensive procedures that are costly or even worse, losing your teeth due to the bone loss associated with gum disease.
2. Regular dental cleanings also prevents early tooth loss and tooth decay. Tartar and calculus buildup(hardened plaque) can only be removed by a professional dental cleaning. If left untreated, will cause gum disease. Tartar also contains cavity causing bacteria. The list just goes on and each treatment means money – a lot of it. Prevention is the only way of ensuring you don’t have to spend so much money for some of these treatments. And these can only be prevented by having your regular dental checkups and cleanings with your dentist.
3. Regular checkups help prevent heart problems. A study conducted by the American Academy of Periodontology reported that there is a connection of developing a heart problem with periodontal disease. Bacteria from the periodontal condition can easily enter into the bloodstream which can enter into the blood vessels to the heart. This can cause blood clots and swelling in the blood vessels.

So it can be said that having a regular checkup with your dentist not only save you a lot of money but can save your life as well. That is why American dental Association recommends to have your mouth (teeth, gums, oral tissues) checked and cleaned twice a year.

To learn more about oral health linked to systemic diseases, click here.

Coupon for exam, x-rays and teeth polish

By: Ladan Zinati