What is proper dental hygiene?
Proper dental hygiene is pretty much proper brushing or cleaning your teeth, and at the same time, flossing it.
Would you include going to the dentist as part of proper dental hygiene?
Yes, proper dental hygiene includes the home care that you do, which is proper brushing and flossing, and most importantly, regular visits to your dental hygienist or your dentist. They can assess your teeth, making sure that everything is hunky-dory.
What can happen if I don't practice good dental hygiene?
When you don't practice good dental hygiene, you can build up plaque. This soft buildup in your teeth gets calcified if you don't remove it within 24 hours. Once hardened, it can't be easily removed with brushing and flossing. It can only be removed by your dental hygienist or your dentist with their special instruments.
What are the main duties of a dental hygienist?
The main duty of a dental hygienist is not only to clean your teeth, but also to assess your mouth and teach you how to do effective oral hygiene, proper brushing, and proper flossing.
What is involved in a dental cleaning?
Dental cleaning involves assessing your mouth and sometimes using a disclosing solution to identify buildup areas. It can also determine if the buildup has been there for more than 24 hours. After identifying the areas, we clean them and teach you the proper way to maintain cleanliness at home.
In dental cleaning, we also scale or use a device called cavitron to remove hard tartar buildup. After removing the heavy buildup, we use hand instruments to fine-tune and smooth your teeth. Finally, we polish your teeth. This is just regular cleaning for healthy gums. However, we also offer deep cleaning which involves cleaning underneath your gums where tartar buildup might be present. For this, we numb you up and go deep in to ensure all buildup is removed and your gums can heal.
Does a hygiene teeth cleaning usually hurt?
The dental cleaning or hygiene appointment with our hygienist or our dentist should not hurt because we're removing tartar buildup. However, some patients with heavy tartar buildup may notice spaces or "holes" in between their teeth after the cleaning. This is due to the tartar buildup pushing and causing the gums to swell and easily bleed. Once cleaned, the spaces become noticeable.
What should I do after a dental cleaning?
Yes, after a dental cleaning, it is recommended to rinse with warm salt water. This will help your gums heal faster. If your gums are bleeding too much, you may be asked to rinse with a medicated rinse.
If you have any more questions or want to schedule an appointment with us, please call us at 619-477-0570.