When we consider that the mouth is the gateway to all our nutritional requirements and a happy and healthy life it would be reasonable to assume that ideally a general dental examination and preventative dental care should be performed every six months.
A routine general dental examination would include the examination of the soft and hard tissues of the mouth.
Examination of the soft tissue is done by looking for e.g. signs of infection, changes in tissue, buildup of plaque and tartar, and areas of unwanted, preventable, breakdown of tissue in the mouth. Periodontal disease can be maintained and prevented when detected and treated regularly in a preventative dental care program.
The examination of the hard tissue, teeth and surrounding bone is complimented by utilizing intra oral radiographs. Intra oral radiographs are invaluable in detecting e.g. decay which would have gone unnoticed and the breakdown of bone surrounding tooth structures.
Preventative dental scale and polishing should be done regularly to remove dental plaque and tartar, the causative factors in periodontal infection and breakdown of soft tissue and surrounding bone and dental cavities.
So often people lose healthy teeth due to unnoticed infection causing breakdown of surrounding bone and soft tissue.
It would be reasonable to assume that regular dental examination and preventative care can help to prevent this.
Dentists play only a small part in preventative dentistry, the home care and maintenance done by the patients is the most important part preventing future intra oral problems.