What Are the Benefits of a Dental X-Ray?
The world is not made of cellophane. That makes it pretty easy for plenty of things to be kept secret. Some of these secrets are good: Christmas presents, surprise parties, and the like. Some are bad: stolen goods, stolen people, and that sort of thing.
It’s not just the world that conceals secrets behind opaque structures. Some secrets are hiding in your very body! And some of these secrets can be the bad kind.
What kinds of secrets might these be? Well, to name an example, let’s consider your teeth. Look at them. How are they holding up? Pretty good. Clean, bright, no cavities. Now how about what’s going on beneath the surface: How are those roots holding up? Everything growing in okay?
You can’t have the answer to that because your mouth isn’t made of cellophane. Like most of the rest of the world, your mouth is opaque. Thus, secrets lie beneath what you can see.
This is where you can utilize the benefits of a dental X-ray and figure out what secrets are hiding underneath your teeth. What secrets might you expect to find? Well, just to name a few…
Decay Between The Teeth
Let’s be honest: Not everyone flosses. Dentists can go on and on about the benefits of flossing (and the downsides to not flossing) until they’re blue in the face, but folks always seem to assume that flossing is being overhyped. But it’s not!
You might lie to yourself about flossing’s usefulness, but the X-ray won’t lie to you about the results: decay. You might not be able to see this decay, but a dental X-ray will pick it right up.
Lucky for you it does! You might go months or years without being aware that you have any took decay going on, because you can’t see it! But with an X-ray, you can know that your teeth are rotting away well before the decay works its way to the visible parts of your teeth. Catching the decay early will save you money since you’ll be able to catch this problem well before it progresses to a state that would require much more expensive procedures to fix.
Damage To Bones Supporting Teeth
There is more to your teeth than to just your teeth themselves. They are supported by many bones. You can brush and floss and wash and prim and pamper your pearly whites as though they were royalty themselves, but if the parts of your jaw that support your teeth experience problems, all the mouthwash in the world won’t be able to save your teeth.
This information might worry you. Are your jaw bones in good shape? Are they doing what they have to to keep your teeth strong and healthy?
Thanks to a dental X-ray, you don’t have to wonder for these answers. You can get them. With a dental X-ray, you can get a view of exactly what shape your jaw bones are in. Should they be in less-than-ideal condition, your dental associate, now knowing what shape they’re in, can come up with a treatment plan to get your jaw bones in the best shape possible!
Tumors
Not every secret you discover within your head will be something that your dentist can address. Many of them will be, but should a dental X-ray reveal the presence of tumors within your jawbones, then you’ll be looking at a problem that your dental expert is not qualified to address.
But don’t let your dentist’s inability to remove tumors dishearten you. Indeed, let the knowledge that their dental X-ray provided you with allow you to breathe a sigh of relief. That problem - the tumors - would already have existed under the surface. Because of your dental X-ray, you could then know that you need to see a surgeon to remove them, perhaps even well before they could become a problem!
The Bottom Line
The world is full of secrets - some good, some bad. Thanks to a dental X-ray, the stuff going on under the surface of your teeth doesn’t have to be a secret. Should you discover something bad under there, you would have the knowledge to be able to fix it.
If you want an expert dental X-ray, then just call the experienced professionals at Haworth Dental!