For those afflicted, managing diabetes can seem like a full-time role. It requires that you monitor your blood sugar, get enough exercise, take medications – the list goes on. Even so, don’t get so caught up in your condition that you neglect your smile. Diabetics should use dental insurance to make their dental care affordable, as they face certain oral health risks. For more details, let your Langley dentist explain the matter in this helpful summary.
Diabetes Puts Your Smile at Risk
On top of causing heart and kidney problems, diabetes can also increase your risk for oral health issues. Research shows that it elevates your odds of developing:
- Gum Disease – Since diabetes disrupts your ability to fend off infections, it makes gum disease more likely to occur. The latter condition is a serious problem that can trigger gum recession, bleeding gums, and even tooth loss.
- Dry Mouth – When a diabetic has high blood glucose levels, they can easily suffer from dry mouth. The resulting lack of saliva could then let bacteria multiply, leading to oral infections and tooth decay.
- Unhealed Oral Wounds – Those with severe diabetes heal more slowly from wounds, including cuts and sores in the mouth. Their oral injuries thus have higher odds of causing infections.
Even if you manage your diabetes, you’ll still be at greater risk of the above issues. That means you’ll want to make oral care a major priority.
Dental Benefits = Affordable Risk-Reduction
Thankfully, diabetics can prevent major oral problems without “breaking the bank.” You just need to maximize your dental benefits by getting dental checkups.
Most dental insurance plans fully cover dental checkups now. Because they see regular dental visits as medically necessary, they meet the full cost of such appointments. That means you can avoid severe oral troubles affordably; you’d just be responsible for a few co-pays. In other words, your diabetes wouldn’t make an unhealthy smile inevitable.
All that said, please confirm your dental plan’s details before you book anything. There are always occasional exceptions.
See Your Local Dentist Soon
Given the points above, you’d do well to schedule a trip to your local dentist soon. Your insurance won’t help with checkup costs otherwise.
Note that unused dental benefits don’t “roll over” from year to year. Once January 1st arrives, they “reset” and become unavailable until you meet your deductible. It follows that they’ll only allow low-cost dental care up until December 31st of this year.
Diabetics should use their dental insurance while there’s still time. So, make sure to see your dental provider in the next few days or weeks!
About the Practice
Saratoga Dental is based in Langley, WA. Led by the amazing Drs. Giswold and Talbot, our practice does its utmost to provide highly effective and comprehensive dentistry. We thus offer preventive, cosmetic, and even restorative treatments, all while making use of cutting-edge technology. Such efforts ensure you (and your smile) get the best results possible from each appointment. For more details or to book a visit, please contact us on our website or by phone at (360)-221-6373.