Things Your Mouth Shows

Importance of Regular Checkups: The Secrets Your Mouth Tells Your Dentist

The condition of your smile tells others allot about you.

When your dentist look in your mouth he/she is looking for the signs of a lot more than just cavities. Besides checking your general oral health, he/she is also checking for tell-tell signs of other health issues:

	Purplish patches or bumps on the roof of the mouth could be Kaposi's sarcoma, often the first sign of HIV infection and AIDS.
	Rough patches on the cheeks, gums, tongue or lips could be cancerous or precancerous lesions.
	Red, puffy or swollen gums or an overall pungent odor could be indications of gum disease.
	Lumps or bumps in the mouth could denote swollen lymph glands or a blocked salivary gland.
	Rapidly advancing gum disease in younger patients could be an early sign of diabetes, especially if there is a purplish hue around abscesses in the gums.
	Discolored or irregularly shaped or worn teeth could indicate a host of problems ranging from decay to tooth grinding to fractures.

You know how your dentist always asks you if you've been flossing every day and you say, "Oh yeah, every single day," and then you wonder if he/she knows you're lying because actually there was a stretch back there in August when you ran out of floss and kept forgetting to pick up a new batch at the store? Well, let's just say he/ she might have his/her suspicions.

Dental evaluations are important for good overall health

Your dentist can tell a lot from his/her quick look in the old oral cavity. In fact, with his/her complex series of evaluations that include feeling, looking and smelling for any irregularities, your flossing exaggerations are the least of what he/she may detect. Dentists spend at least 4 years after college in dental school where their training covers a medical education that doesn't just stop at the teeth. That's why it's important to make sure a dentist, and not just a hygienist, examines your mouth every six months. And to keep a back-up supply of dental floss on hand at all times.

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