{"id":909,"date":"2019-03-11T14:40:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T14:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=909"},"modified":"2019-03-11T14:40:31","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T14:40:31","slug":"is-once-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/is-once-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"IS ONCE ENOUGH?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite the\ngeneralized notion that people should visit a dentist bi-annually, I am more a\nproponent of individualized frequency recommendations based on a few factors.\nWe are not all the same; therefore each of us has our own specific needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Family laughing around a good meal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Results from a\nrecent Gallup-Healthways poll of 355,334 Americans indicate that more than\none-third of the population, 34% to be exact, did not visit a dentist last year\nat all. Over 50% of the population said they visited the dentist one time or\nless last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a study\nreported in The New York Times and other major media, a report by the Journal of Dental Research<\/em> indicates\n“little evidence supports biannual preventive care for all\nadults.”  Similarly, the headline\nfrom HealthDay News<\/em> read,\n“Annual Dental Cleaning May be Enough for Some.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nresearchers explored the association between long-term tooth loss and the\nfrequency of preventive dental visits in adults with and without three risk\nfactors for periodontal disease: smoking, diabetes and interleukin-1 genetic\nvariations (regulates immune and inflammatory responses). Subjects were deemed\nlow risk if they had none of these factors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data\nshowed that as a group the high-risk patients who had two preventive dental\nvisits lost significantly fewer teeth compared to the high-risk group that had\nonly one preventive dental visit per year. By contrast, there was no difference\nin tooth loss for the groups at low-risk based on one versus two preventive\nvisits per year. The researchers concluded that individual risk factors should\ndictate the frequency of cleanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American\nDental Association recommends regular dental visits at an interval determined\nby the patient’s dentist. The patient’s dentist makes an individualized\nrecommendation based on the patient’s health history and current oral health\nstatus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some\npoints that may help you understand the study and the importance of\npersonalized care:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022   The key takeaway from this study is that\npersonalized oral care\u2014taking into account your oral and overall health\nhistory\u2014is necessary for good dental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022   The study only <\/strong>looked at tooth\nextraction and its association with risk factors for gum disease; however,\nother health conditions can contribute to poor oral health, so that’s why\npersonalized dental care is critical to good patient care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022   Personalized treatment plans should be the\npriority. Recommendations for future dental appointments should be based on\nwhat is seen during your examination, your health history, and any concerns you\nmay have about your oral health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022   The American Dental Association’s website at\nwww.mouthhealthy.org has a lot of information on how to take care of your oral\nhealth between dental visits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there is\nclearly a segment of the population who can \u201cget away\u201d with visiting a dentist\nonce a year to maintain a healthy mouth, this group is relatively small. 75% of\nthe population has some form of gum disease. Within that group, there are those\nwho should see a dentist\/hygienist twice per year, some three times and others\nfour times or more to maintain proper health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is up to\nyou and your dentist to have an open conversation about how often you should\ngo. If it has been a while, getting there the first time is step number one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the generalized notion that people should visit a dentist bi-annually, I am more a proponent of individualized frequency recommendations based on a few factors. We are not all the same; therefore each of us has our own specific needs. Results from a recent Gallup-Healthways poll of 355,334 Americans indicate that more than one-third of the population, 34% to be exact, did not visit a dentist last year at all. Over 50% of the population […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}