With each year that passes, Americans are having to spend more and more of their hard-earned dollars on general dentistry. To be quite fair, a lot of the problem is of our own making. We consume too much sugar and don’t place enough emphasis on maintaining our dental health. Subsequently, according to DentalPlans.com, Americans now spend more than $100 billion annually on dental cosmetics, tooth whitening, cleaning, and a wide variety of other general and cosmetic dentistry procedures.

Would you be surprised to learn that you can help drastically reduce your spending on dental medicine with just a few simple questions? By asking these questions, you can check the status of your dental health, assess whether or not you’re with the right dentist, and ensure you don’t have any serious health issues. Ask a dentist these three questions, and you’ll only help yourself.

Three Questions to Ask a Dentist at Your Next Appointment

1. How Does My Mouth Look?

It may seem silly to ask, but asking a dentist “how does my mouth look,” can go a long way in protecting and improving your dental hygiene. Keep in mind, you might not like what you hear, but the answers will certainly be to your benefit. Your dentist will tell you about your problem areas and how to take better care of your teeth. They might even tell you that everything looks great. Either way, you need to ask this one.


2. Do You Make an Effort to Stay Knowledgeable on Family Dental Care?

Dentistry is a science, and like any other form of science, it is constantly evolving. A dentist who doesn’t make an effort to stay knowledgeable in his or her field is not someone you should be wasting your money or time on. That’s why, as SheKnows Health and Wellness, a popular women’s health website, writes, you need to ask them how they keep themselves knowledgeable about new trends and developments in dentistry. Do they read PubMed? Do they mold their own practices based on reports that have undergone “systematic review?” If they are content with what they learned in school decades ago, it’s likely time for you to go elsewhere.


3. Are There Any Issues My Doctor Should Know About?

Too many people assume that the only thing a trip to the dentist is good for is a cleaning and a lecture about flossing and brushing. However, according to Canada’s Best Health Magazine, a number of serious health problems, everything from osteoporosis to anemia, first show signs in your gums and teeth. Be sure to ask a dentist this question to ensure you have no health problems, whether dental or medical.

Like any other form of medicine, you shouldn’t approach your dental care passively. Get engaged, and ask the tough questions. Doing so, you can protect both your wallet and your health. Helpful info also found here.