Regular Visits to the Dentist

[The Mad Monk]

I am getting to the point that I am not sure if it is worth carrying on going to the dentist on a regular basis.

I have had regular check ups every six months since I was a child and I am now, well, let's say elderly. Should I stop going to the dentist every six months, and instead wait for something to go wrong and then use a dentist?

[Z4monster]

If you are NHS patient, you will find that if you don't go regularly they will remove you from their service. It may mean that should something go painfully wrong, you can't get an urgent appointment.

Even if you're a private patient you might have the same issue. It's still worth going regularly as the check-up can catch issues before they become a problem and cause you pain.

If they don't need to do anything other than a check-up and you have no treatment for several visits, then the cost is minimal but it's good peace of mind that there's nothing lurking in there to cause issues.

Personally I'll keep going even though the dentist is really one of my least favourite things to do.

[extraT]

I’ve never understood why people go to a medical professional when they have nothing wrong with them.

Do you go to the regular doctor too, just for a “check up”?

Taking kids, yes I agree because they are developing and it’s important in formative years to make sure everything is fine; but after a certain age/brain of years of everything being fine, why do you need to go for a check up?

But then I’m lucky, good teeth (genes)run in my family.

(Despite what’s written above, the wife insists I go for a deep clean every year so)

ETA:brushing your teeth/taking care of daily hygiene is obviously key too!

[p1stonhead]

extraT said:

I’ve never understood why people go to a medical professional when they have nothing wrong with them.

Do you go to the regular doctor too, just for a “check up”?

Taking kids, yes I agree because they are developing and it’s important in formative years to make sure everything is fine; but after a certain age/brain of years of everything being fine, why do you need to go for a check up?

But then I’m lucky, good teeth (genes)run in my family.

(Despite what’s written above, the wife insists I go for a deep clean every year so)

ETA:brushing your teeth/taking care of daily hygiene is obviously key too!

It’s like servicing a car. People do it when nothing is ‘wrong’.

Teeth I treat like consumables. But I’ve had braces and problems in general with them and my jaw.

My dentist is like a TVR dealer

[Lemming Train]

extraT said:

I’ve never understood why people go to a medical professional when they have nothing wrong with them.

I used to be of the same opinion and stopped going to my (NHS) dentist because my teeth were fine and I looked after them. I got struck off but so what, my teeth are fine! Then around 5 years later I got some problems. Had a devil of a job getting a new NHS dentist but luckily I found one and my tooth had to come out. All good again I was briefly thinking about not bothering with the check-ups as I'd increased my attention to keeping them clean. I'm glad common sense prevailed and I kept up with the check-ups as my dentist identified a wisdom tooth that had started to go squidgy with decay, requiring a small filling. The tooth hadn't caused me any bother at all so if I'd dropped the 6 monthly check-ups it would have continued decaying until it caused me pain, at which point it would have likely been beyond the point of being saved by a filling and as dentists don't do root canal on wisdoms it would have been the loss of another tooth.

Keep your check-ups! £23 every 6 months is extremely good value for money for a professional to save you from a st-ton of pain and aggro in the future. The fact that your teeth feel absolutely fine to you does not necessarily mean that they are (as proven by my case above).

[Matt_N]

Ask them to put you on a 12 month appointment? I only go every 12 months at their recommendation.

[C0ffin D0dger]

Matt_N said:

Ask them to put you on a 12 month appointment? I only go every 12 months at their recommendation.

Same here as I've got good teeth so rarely get problems.

As per some other tales on here I stopped going when I moved away from my parents. Up until that point in life I'd only needed a couple of fillings and that was largely due to neglect on my part. Both those fillings fell out but I left them. Ended up with a abscess under one of them, had to visit the NHS emergency / drop in dentist who said it was too inflamed to be pulled so gave me some antibiotics. They didn't work and after returning to the emergency dentist a different dentist decided to pull it anyway. Had so much Novocaine I couldn't feel my face for hours after

I now back with a regular NHS dentist, if I'd have stuck with the regular check ups in the first place I wouldn't now have a missing molar.

[JapanRed]

Matt_N said:

Ask them to put you on a 12 month appointment? I only go every 12 months at their recommendation.

Same here.

[TameRacingDriver]

extraT said:

I’ve never understood why people go to a medical professional when they have nothing wrong with them.

Do you go to the regular doctor too, just for a “check up”?

Taking kids, yes I agree because they are developing and it’s important in formative years to make sure everything is fine; but after a certain age/brain of years of everything being fine, why do you need to go for a check up?

But then I’m lucky, good teeth (genes)run in my family.

(Despite what’s written above, the wife insists I go for a deep clean every year so)

ETA:brushing your teeth/taking care of daily hygiene is obviously key too!

I'm the same. It seems some people actively want to seek problems. I haven't been for over 10 years now. No problems yet. When I did need go over 10 years ago I had to find a new dentist but it really wasn't a problem.

[MKA29]

Visiting the dentist is of a subjective importance, depending on your risk factors.

Drink a load of coke, smoke, guzzle alcohol and don't spend time cleaning your teeth? It's likely your dentist will try and get you in every 3-6 months as they know you're likely to develop problems - and cause both you and them more work


Good as gold? Follow cleaning and diet guidance? Don't develop problems often? Your dentist will probably get you in every 12-18 months


A blanket rule of 6 months for everyone regardless of risk factors, in my opinion, can be tedious for both parties. Likewise leaving dental appointments until you get problems is a sure way to run up massive bills in a short period of time...

[anonymous-user]

I would say keep going regularly as the dentist can deal with any issues while they are easier to deal with.

Not going just means the problem will be worse when finally identified, needing more treatment with a worse outcome for you.

[Halb]

p1stonhead said:

It’s like servicing a car. People do it when nothing is ‘wrong’.

Teeth I treat like consumables. But I’ve had braces and problems in general with them and my jaw.

My dentist is like a TVR dealer

Quite. I don't get why some people would just run their only form of transport/place to live (the body) without regular check-ups. Like running your car without check-ups.