My mate Greg completely stuffed himself with his teeth situation. Not deliberately, obviously, just through pure procrastination. He brushed them fine, sometimes even flossed, figured that was enough. Kept telling himself he’d book a dental checkup soon. Five years passed.
One night, he’s eating spaghetti at home, bites down on something, and a chunk of his molar just breaks off, a proper chunk, not a little chip. Turns out there’d been a cavity growing there for god knows how long that would’ve been sorted with a simple filling. Instead, he needed a root canal, crown, three separate appointments, and an absolute horror show.
“Cost me nearly three and a half grand, plus I was in genuine pain for ages,” he said when telling me about it. “A regular checkup would’ve been like two hundred bucks.”
Why does it feel okay to keep putting it off
Look, I completely get why people avoid booking dentist appointments. Life’s already packed. Dentist visits rank somewhere below tax paperwork on the fun scale. Teeth aren’t hurting, so what’s the urgency? You’ve got work stress, family drama, social commitments, and bills to pay. Actually picking up the phone and booking, then showing up, feels like unnecessary admin.
The money angle is legit too. Even with decent insurance, dental work costs a lot of money. A basic checkup and cleaning might set you back a couple of hundred dollars. When money’s tight, skipping it makes total sense. Nothing’s bothering you right now, teeth look alright when you check in the mirror, surely another six months won’t matter.
Then there’s the whole anxiety thing, which is totally real. Loads of people properly hate dental visits. Maybe some dentist traumatized you as a kid. Maybe those drill noises trigger something primal in your brain. Perhaps you just despise lying there helpless while someone jabs metal tools around your mouth, all perfectly reasonable reasons to avoid it.
How dental problems creep up on you
Thing is, though, dental issues don’t send you courtesy warnings. That microscopic cavity you can’t see or feel? Getting bigger every week. Gum disease starts completely silently. Zero pain, nothing you’d notice. By the time something bothers you enough to ring for an emergency slot, you’re well past the quick-fix stage.
Professional cleans remove the buildup that your toothbrush literally can’t touch. Doesn’t matter if you’re brushing after every meal and flossing like your life depends on it; there’s hardened crap on your teeth that needs proper tools to shift. Let that build up for years, and you’re basically creating ideal conditions for cavities and gum disease.
Dentists catch problems while they’re still tiny and easy to fix. Little cavity? Quick fill costs three hundred, takes thirty minutes max, sorted. Wait till that same cavity starts causing actual pain? Now you’re potentially in root canal territory, thousands of dollars, multiple visits, way more suffering.
Greg’s broken tooth story happens constantly, apparently. People think if it doesn’t hurt, it’s fine. But decay doesn’t break till it’s seriously advanced. By that point, your treatment options are all more complicated and way more expensive.
All the extra stuff they’re looking for
Standard dental visits aren’t just about scraping tartar and finding cavities. They’re screening for oral cancer, which is deadly if you catch it late but really treatable when found early. They check how your teeth fit together, examine your jaw joints, and look at any old fillings or crowns to make sure they’re still working correctly.
They watch for signs of grinding, which heaps of people do unconsciously. Grinding wears your teeth down, causes jaw aches, and eventually leads to expensive problems. Spot it early, you may need a night guard costing a few hundred. Ignore it for years; you’re looking at crowns and significant work.
Gum disease is especially sneaky. Starts with gums bleeding a tiny bit when you brush, barely noticeable. Progresses to gums pulling back, teeth getting wobbly, and bone loss in your jaw. Severe gum disease needs surgery, and you can lose teeth. Early stage? Good, clean, and better brushing habits usually handle it.
Plus, your mouth health directly affects your body health. Gum disease connects to heart problems, worsens diabetes, causes breathing issues, and complicates pregnancies. Your mouth isn’t separate from the rest of you. Infections and inflammation spread throughout your system.
Dealing with being scared
If fear keeps you away from dentists, you’re definitely not alone. Probably half of everyone feels anxious about it to some degree. The good news is that most dental places nowadays actually get this and genuinely try to help.
Tell them when you book that you’re nervous. Decent places will take longer, explain each thing before doing it, and let you have breaks whenever. Some offer sedation for people with severe anxiety. Music playing, TV screens, whatever makes it more bearable for you.
Building trust with a particular dentist helps massively over time. First appointment might be rough, but it gets easier when you know what’s coming and you’re comfortable with the people there. Familiarity really does help.
Funny thing, though. Avoiding dentists because you’re anxious usually creates bigger problems, which need more intense treatment, which is way more anxiety-inducing than a basic checkup would’ve been. Regular simple visits are infinitely less stressful than emergency ones for serious problems.
The money calculations people skip
Yeah, preventive care costs money. But it’s always cheaper than fixing big problems. Always. Zero exceptions.
Greg’s case proves it perfectly. Regular checkups twice a year would cost him $400 a year. Five years equals two thousand total. His emergency root canal and crown? Three thousand, plus missing work, dealing with pain, the whole nightmare.
Dental insurance covers preventive stuff well, specifically because insurance companies have figured out that paying for cleans saves them money compared to paying for root canals later. They vastly prefer you getting regular checkups.
Even without insurance, the maths works. Minor problems equal small bills. Big problems equal massive bills. Regular visits keep problems small. Pretty simple, really.
Finding somewhere that doesn’t suck
Dental practices vary massively in quality. Some genuinely care about patients, make you comfortable, and explain things properly. Others operate like conveyor belts, trying to cram in the maximum people per day.
Look for somewhere the staff actually seem to care. Do they explain what they’ve found and why they’re suggesting certain treatments? Do they give you options and let you decide instead of just dictating? Do they answer questions without making you feel dumb?
Places aggressively pushing expensive treatments you probably don’t need? Huge red flag. Good dentists present information honestly and let you choose. They’re upfront about what’s urgent versus what can wait.
Convenience matters too. If they’ve got useless hours or you can’t get appointments for months, you won’t actually maintain regular visits. Find somewhere that makes it reasonably easy to stay on track.
Just book it right now
If you’re reading this thinking, “yeah, I really should ring the dentist,” stop thinking and actually do it immediately. This second. Because you know perfectly well if you don’t do it right now, you’ll forget, and another year will vanish.
Your teeth need to last potentially another fifty, sixty, or seventy years. Maintaining them isn’t optional; it’s essential. Ignoring problems doesn’t make them disappear; it makes them worse and costlier to fix later.
Greg’s properly on schedule now after his expensive, painful lesson, twice yearly like clockwork. His teeth are fine, no dramas, way cheaper than that emergency was.
Don’t be Greg before the break. Be Greg after. Book the thing, go to checkups, fix small problems while they’re small. Your teeth benefit, your wallet benefits, and you won’t have a tooth break during dinner.