Dentists recommend that you visit for a check-up at least once every 6 months, to ensure that your mouth remains healthy and your teeth remain strong.

Visiting your Central London dentist regularly allows them to monitor the normal state of your mouth and spot any suspicious changes that may occur. These changes could involve mild enamel erosion, which you yourself can’t see, or tender looking gums that signal the start of gum disease.

A dentist is able to spot these changes before they can develop and when they can be treated easily with preventative methods such as cleaning and white fillings.

Dental check-ups and oral cancer

The number of oral cancer victims rose to 6,000 for the year 2011 and dentists are in the ideal place to check for the disease. The quicker your oral cancer is spotted the sooner it can be treated and as 90% of patients who are treated early recover, in comparison to the 50% who do when they undergo late treatment, it is easy to see why regular dental check-ups are so important.

Signs to look out for with oral cancer:

• Patches of red or white in the mouth or on the tongue.
• Persistent sores in the mouth or on the tongue, which take a long time to heal.
• Pain in the neck or throat.

Risk factors for oral cancer:

• Drinking
• Smoking
• HPV virus

If you fall into any of the risk factor categories and have spotted these signs visit your dentist for a check-up to ascertain whether you are suffering from the disease or not-it could potentially save your life.

Oral cancer, gum disease and tooth decay all sneak up quietly and unnoticed, with painful symptoms only apparent when the problem has developed. This is why visiting the dentist is of such importance, as your dentist is able to spot the pain-free symptoms you cannot see and treat immediately to prevent the problem from getting out of hand.