Medication Can Seriously Affect Dental Health

People at a greater risk for oral diseases should have dental check ups more than twice a year, which means about every 3-4 months.  Tobacco and alcohol use,  diabetes, pregnancy, periodontal and gum disease, poor oral hygiene and certain medical conditions are some of the many factors that your dentist takes into consideration when deciding how often you need your dental cleaning and check up.

More and more patients that are taking multiple medications for their general health such as Osteoporosis medications, Statins for high cholesterol, multiple meds for high blood pressure etc.  

We have had many patients on these drugs for years and all of a sudden they develop a dry mouth.  This condition can cause serious damage to your mouth.  We've had 4 patients on medications that skipped their regular cleaning and the next time we saw them they had 10-20 cavities caused from the dry mouth.  

If you notice a dry mouth please contact your physician and us immediately to see how we can prevent this devastating damage.

Going to your regular check ups will help to keep your gums and teeth healthy as well as detect any problems in the early stages and of course that will save money and grief.  

Lately we have had several patients that haven’t been in over the last year or so and then they call with a toothache, cracked tooth, massive decay etc. which now costs them in some cases thousands of dollars and lots of grief.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.