Well, it depends… Mainly on how susceptible you are to decay/cavities and how susceptible you are to gum disease.

Once we are finished with your active phase of treatment and your dentition is stabilised, we recommend visiting the dentist at least every 6 months for a maintenance and hygiene appointment.

The reason why we choose this interval, is to allow us to provide better preventative care to your teeth. At the 6 monthly visit we check for any changes to previous regions that we many want to monitor. This interval usually allows us to catch cavities before they become too large. Large cavities become more complex to fix, and may end up being more costly if they need crowns or root canal treatment. In some cases the tooth may need to be removed if the decay has become too large!

With our younger patients, we also check that the jaws are developing normally and the teeth are erupting in the correct position.

At the six monthly visit we usually clean and polish the teeth, removing any build up of plaque and scale (tartar). Scale and plaque is full of mouth bacteria which can irritate your gums, causing gum disease. Signs of gum disease include bleeding gums, bad breathe, receding gums, sore gums and loose teeth. If left unmaintained, gum disease can progress to a point where the teeth are too loose or become infected and may need to be removed. With more advanced or aggressive forms of gum disease, 3 monthly visits may be recommended until it becomes more stabilised. Good dental hygiene at home is also very important in maintaining gum disease.

Somethings with your teeth can be unpredictable. Whether you eat something hard and a piece of tooth breaks off, if a deep filling starts to play up, or if you’ve fallen over and chipped your front tooth. In these sorts of cases, you are welcome to give us a call and come earlier for your dental visit. We reserve a certain number of emergency appointments each day for these sorts of situations.