Your treatment plan is simply the correct dental
treatment for you, now. Your treatment plan depends on many things: your age, your health, any specific
problems you might have, your oral hygiene (do you brush? do you floss? do you have lots of decay? do you have missing teeth? do
you visit the dentist regularly, or only when something is killing you?)
Your dentist will use
radiographs, visual and manual examination, and models of your upper and lower teeth to arrive at your treatment plan.
Your treatment plan
is a roadmap, that takes you from your present dental condition to the ideal dental condition. YOUR ideal dental condition.
Your treatment plan also depends on
your finances. A treatment plan that you cannot afford, is not the correct treatment plan for you.
Your
treatment plan is also an agreement between you and your dentist. Your input is just as important as that of the dentist,
since whatever work is done you must pay for and you must maintain. A treatment plan that you don't agree with, for whatever
reason, is not the right one for you.
A
treatment plan, like a flight plan, only works if it is completed. Keep your appointments!
Know your treatment plan. Discuss it with your dentist. Follow your progress. Get a second opinion if there is something in
your treatment plan that is puzzling to you, or ask your dentist to explain it.
Treatment plans are time sensitive. Todays plan might not work a year from now. Things in the mouth change, your general health
may change, you get married, you get fired, you get transferred. All these factors affect your individual treatment plan.
Ask questions!
They are your teeth!
