Dental expense and bad breath are the topic of conversation today as we continue our series on dental myths, mistakes and misunderstandings.
Myth 24: “Dentistry is expensive.”
“Yes, it is,” and, “No, it isn’t.”
If you look at the total fees for care, dentistry or what we call “maintenance” or “check-up” dentistry is pretty reasonable. A person over their lifetime can average somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 per year in caring for their teeth. Yet when a person neglects their teeth, gets partial treatment, or doesn’t see a dentist on a regular basis, dentistry does get expensive. It could have been prevented.
So yes, dentistry can be expensive at times, but here’s something else to think about: what’s the expense of not seeing the dentist? Isn’t that much worse!
Myth 25: “If I have bad breath, I’ll just use chewing gum. That’ll cure it.”
No, this is not true. If you have chronic bad breath, there are usually two reasons why. First, you may have a systemic problem with your whole body. Generally, this can be associated with stomach problems or gastric reflux. The other reason for your bad breath that just won’t go away is likely gum disease.
There are some people who chew mints to solve the problem. Not a good idea. Chewing mints or gum to conquer bad breath, when done chronically, encourages dental decay. Oh, boy. Try to solve one problem and you get another! The real solution is to treat the gum disease in the first place, and to get a check-up to make sure you don’t have something wrong with you systemically.
