As a former employee of a dental consulting firm, we routinely kept track of the health of the practice statistics for v dental practices around the nation. One of those statistics was the percentage of patients that kept up with their continuing care appointments. During these economic times, we found that there has been a definite decline with people seeing their dentist to get their teeth cleaned. But why? These patients had insurance and it wouldn't have been much cost to them, if anything at all!One of the things that we presumed was that people just didn't want to hear any bad news about their teeth. Putting off getting a professional cleaning was like burying their head in the sand. They probably won't feel the immediate reprecussions of this but....believe me... they will.What they don't realize is that if we find things out when they are small, the fee to the patient is less as well as the size of the restoration. Plus, there is a direct link between a patient's oral health and their overall systemic health. Another good reason to see your dentist on a regular basis!So if you've been putting off your dental cleaning for whatever reason...put off no more! Being proactive is way more economical then being reactive!To find out more how your dental health affects your overall health, visit www.oralhealthamerica.org.