Why Every 6 Months?

We all remember as a child going to the dentist every 6 months for a check up so the dentist could count our teeth and tell us not to eat too many sweets. However this routine usually dissolves when a child becomes an adult and there is no more mum nagging you to say that 'you are going to the dentist!'.

We see alot of emergency patients every week, and alot of the patients we see usually start the conversation by saying 'I haven't been to the dentist for years'.

So why don't people come for dental check ups anymore?
Well the usual reasons we get are patients being phobic of the dentist, usually due to a bad experience which is very understandable. Another very common reason is that because they don't notice any problems or pain themselves they think its a waste of time and money to come and have it confirmed by a dentist which often means that people are going years without seeing a dentist.

So why every 6 months then? We like to see patients at least twice a year so we can make sure any small problems we see can be fixed very simply and easily. You may have small holes in your teeth that you're unaware off, as usually small holes in teeth are completely painless.

If we're able to catch a small hole developing quickly we can usually fix this very easily by popping in a small filling, however if we don't catch these problems when they're small they can develop into much more complicated and painful problems where alot of work needs to be carried out in order to try and fix the tooth, or the tooth may even need to be taken out.

At every dental check up the dentist will perform a very simple and quick oral tissue examination to look out for any early signs of oral cancer or problems.

By coming for regular dental check ups we're able to monitor and repair teeth help prevent any complex treatment or tooth loss from happening. All of our staff provide support and care for nervous and phobic patients.

Dental Nurse Sam Glaze (left) and Dentist Natalie Walker (right)
with one of our patients