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The American Dental Association recommends seeing your dentist every six months for routine checkups and cleanings. These appointments allow your oral health professional to carefully monitor and thoroughly clean your teeth and gums, address problems in their early stages, and advise you as to better hygiene habits. However, you may not be sure why your provider measures your blood pressure before tending to your mouth. Here’s a quick look at how taking your blood pressure helps your dentist keep you in good oral and overall health.
Establishing a Baseline
In some cases, a dentist will discover that their patient has a pressing oral health concern during a routine exam, and it may be necessary to address the problem during the same appointment. In cases like these, taking blood pressure allows the dentist to get a clearer understanding of how stressed the patient is and determine an appropriate form of anesthesia if necessary.
Detecting Overall Health Problems
Most people see their dentists more than their general practitioners, and, while dentists specialize in maintaining patient’s oral health, they are able to recognize signs of distress and refer people to appropriate healthcare providers if necessary. For example, a dentist who detects high blood pressure in a patient will be able to inform them that they may need to seek the help of a cardiologist. In this way, dentists can help their patients avoid painful and dangerous health conditions like hypertension and cardiovascular events.
Routine dental appointments are a crucial part of preserving your oral and overall health, and neglecting to see your dentist every six months can set you up for a host of destructive and painful infections of the teeth and gums. To make matters worse, forgoing your dental appointments can also allow treatable overall health conditions to go undetected for extended periods. If you’d like to stay healthy and maintain a beautiful smile, it’s important to make sure your next dental checkup is on your schedule.
About the Author
Dr. Girish Sandadi earned his dental degree at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and develops his skills further with continuing education coursework. He is proud to be a member of the American Dental Association and the Texas Dental Association. His office in Dallas offers general, restorative, cosmetic, and emergency dentistry as well as dental implants, and his team is trained to use some of the most advanced dental technology available. To schedule your next checkup, contact his office online or dial (214) 528-9990.