Dental check-ups can become a little scary sometimes. You are either scared of sitting in the reclining chair or of getting your teeth drilled or removed or you are simply scared of the bill that you are going to get at the end of the visit. So much apprehension and anxiety around dental treatment have led to a proliferation of myths around the same which discourages you more.
1) Dental Visits are expensive: Dental visits are expensive only when you don’t visit a dentist regularly and wait till the dental problem becomes unbearable. Regular scaling or cleaning of your teeth can save your gums from a lot of future trouble, similarly, regular dental visits can help in catching and treating cavities at an early stage which in turn will bring down your treatment cost.
2) Brushing before your appointment will not let the dentist notice your irregular brushing: You need to brush your teeth twice a day regularly to keep your teeth healthy and clean, just brushing your teeth before going to the dentist is not going to mask months of neglect.
3)Having teeth extracted from upper jaw will affect your eyesight: This is common misconception many people have given the proximity of maxillary tooth to eyes. However, this is not true. Nerve supply of eyes and teeth are different and any extraction of any tooth is not going to affect your eyesight.
4) Scaling makes your teeth weak: Scaling removes the plaque and calculus build up from the surface of teeth. This clears some space between the teeth leading to the belief that scaling thins them out. Also, if scaling has not been done for a long time and proper oral hygiene is not followed, your gums get infected and start receding. In such cases, the only thing holding your tooth in the socket is the thick layer of calculus and once it’s removed the tooth starts shaking and come off.
5) The longer you brush the healthier your teeth will be: Do you know you can overbrush your teeth? Dentists recommend brushing twice a day for 2 mins each. Brushing any more than 2 mins is harming your teeth. So next time you go to brush put a 2 min timer, or better, play a 2 min song so you know when to stop brushing.
6) A hard brush will give your teeth a good cleaning: A brush with hard bristles does not translate into better cleaning. Soft bristles can clear effectively by bending and getting under the gums to remove plaque and debris. On the other hand, hard bristles can wear down the tooth structure.
7) Using pain relieving balms of aching tooth will help: This is a big NO! Pain relieving balms are good for muscular pain as they produce localized heat, Our tooth is like a closed chamber and any application of these balms will heat it up, increasing the pressure in this chamber which leads to more pain. This eventually leads to seeping of infection in your gums and swelling.
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8) If your gums are bleeding, don’t brush: Your gums bleed because of an underlying infection and if you stop brushing, the food leftover in your mouth will only promote the infection. You can brush softly to minimize the pain and bleeding. Contact your dentist to get a proper treatment and under no circumstance stop brushing.
9) Cavities can be treated by brushing: A cavity is an irreversible damage to the tooth structure, it can not be cured. Your dentist can remove the decayed matter and fill the cavity to stop the progression. So go to your dentist as soon as you notice a cavity.
10) A decaying tooth should be extracted at the first sign of pain: Gone are the days when any pain in a tooth meant you need to get it pulled out. With the progress of dentistry now teeth can be saved with conservative treatments like RCTs
Your teeth are the most sensitive part of our body. Once lost or damaged they can never be healed but only repaired. So every dental visits and treatment is important. Don’t let myths stop you from taking care of your smile!
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