The family dental appointments in your home all happen on the same day.
In fact, the tradition of your family coming into appointments together just a week or two before school starts has resulted in everything from welcome banners strung across the reception desk to treats when the staff noticed on the chart that one year’s appointments landed on your youngest daughter’s birthday.
And while your older kids often joke about all having to go to the dentist together and waiting turns like they were at Suzuki piano lessons, there are certainly worse habits that families can have. In fact, an unfortunate truth about today’s dental health is that only 64% of adults between the ages of 18 and 64 had a dental visit between 2014 and 2015, according to The Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Realizing that as many as 36% of adults in this age range did not go to the dentist is even more concerning when you realize that there are a significant number of dental patients who go as many as three years between appointments.
Cosmetic Dentistry Continues to Grow in Popularity
On the other end of the spectrum of those people who fail to make even their yearly check ups are another group of people who are going to the dentist even more than ever. For those people who are looking for ways to make their smiles look their very best, the research shoes that in the year 2017 an estimated 39.09 million Americans used teeth whiteners. And while some of these are applied at home with over the counter products, many were in office procedures or professional whitening products that were purchased from a family dental practice.
It has never been a secret that a great smile will get you places, but now there is research by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry (AACD) that shows that as many as 99.7% of all adults agreed that having a healthy smile is socially important. Perhaps it is because of this that cosmetic dental procedures continue to grow in popularity. In fact, the AACD estimates that Americans spend $2.75 billion each year on cosmetic dentistry. Knowing that 66% of these patients are female and 33% are male is an indicator that this is a priority for both sexes.
Whether your whole crew visits the family dental office at once or you are teaching teenagers the importance of making and keeping their own dental appointments, there are few habits that will do more to help you look and feel great about your smile!
