Depending on the person, dental care can fall in a category of their life that ranges from absolutely essential to absolutely elective.
How do you view your own dental health, and what importance do you place on receiving proper dental care?
Over the past 25 years of private practice, the one thing that absolutely causes a person to seek dental care is pain. Dental pain can be exquisite. Dental pain can also be dangerous. Unfortunately, waiting until there is dental pain isn’t the recommended way to keep your teeth for a lifetime. By the time a person has pain, usually something is wrong – significantly wrong. Additionally, significantly wrong usually equates to significant problems, which leads to significant cost.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a few thousand dollars laying around to spend on getting a tooth fixed, but I do have a few hundred over the course of a year to receive professional dental care. Even men who go to places like Sports Clips spend more every year on haircuts than they would getting their teeth cleaned and properly examined twice a year. Of course, most women spend more than men on their hair, so I don’t need to explain that one.
So why is it that dental care often takes a back seat? Is it fear? Anxiety? Pain? Not understanding the problems or available treatment?
Certainly all of those are reasons, but in this age, there are all sorts of ways to help people with fear and anxiety receive treatment. And, there’s no reason not to understand your dental condition if you collaborate with a dentist who takes the time you need to help you, although I will admit I don’t see that happen often when a new client starts with us. Most don’t have a clue about the condition of their mouth because no one ever took the time to help them.
Is it because dental care is expensive? Yes, it can be very expensive when conditions are serious. However, for most people, having routine care is not expensive at all, even if it has to be paid “out of pocket”.
Dental insurance companies are making money hand-over-fist because of the current economy. Why? People are not using their benefits because they don’t even want to pay their copayments, yet their employer – or they – are paying the premiums. It’s a really good time to be in the dental insurance industry!
I encourage you to consider what’s important to you about your own dental health, then take action accordingly. I’m OK with whatever decision you make, and I’m here to help you if things fall to pieces.
But know that there is a better, less expensive way to enjoy a life of excellent dental health and all the benefits that having a healthy smile and being able to eat healthy foods has to offer.