Why You Should See Our Dental Hygienist
Gum health is often neglected. Don’t let this be you – see our friendly Acton hygienist to stay on track.
Most of you reading this blog will, we hope, recognise the importance of a good oral health regime. For many of us though, this often means simply cleaning our teeth well. This is a good thing, obviously, but with the focus being on our teeth, our gums can sometimes become a little neglected. Having healthy and attractive teeth is something that many of us aspire to, but without healthy gums, the benefits of this focus can soon be lost, sometimes forever.
While many symptoms of gum disease are unpleasant, and can include bleeding and inflammation, it is when the disease becomes more advanced that the more serious issues arise. During its later stage, the bacteria can start to affect not only the soft tissue of the gums, but also the jawbone where the tooth is located. As healthy bone helps to ensure that the tooth remains stable, once it starts to become degraded and damaged by bacteria, the tooth can start to become loose and wobbly. In some cases, the teeth may also fall out. As you can see then, it is important that we look after our gums as well as our teeth. So how should we do this?
At home cleaning
There are a number of things that patients should do to help maintain healthy gums. One of the most obvious of these is to stop smoking if you currently partake in this habit. Not only can smoking cause cancer, both general and oral, but it is also a major cause of gum disease. If you smoke then, it is time to stop.
It is also important to stay well hydrated. Bacteria that can lead to gum disease tend to multiply in a dry and warm environment such as that provided by a dry mouth. Drink plenty of water then, and especially at night if you have been drinking alcohol.
When it comes to your cleaning regime, there are two key things that you can do to help your gums. Firstly, when you brush your teeth, make sure that you angle the bristles towards the gums. This will help to remove any food and bacteria from the gum pockets. The other thing you should do is to floss between your teeth. This is an area where toothbrush bristles can struggle to reach and is therefore a common place for bacteria and small food particles to linger and start to cause problems.
Doing these few things will improve your gum health, but it is also strongly recommended that you see the hygienist at your Acton dental practice on a six monthly basis too.
Why see the hygienist?
You might wonder why you would need to see the hygienist if you look after your gum health as well as you can. It is a fair question but the fact is that it is virtually impossible to remove all bacteria through cleaning and some of this will remain attached to your teeth and around the gum line. Over time, this, and the various minerals in your saliva will combine and form a hard ‘crust’ on the tooth surface and the gum line. This ‘crust’ is known as tartar or calculus. It forms a rough surface which helps to attract more bacteria and also allows your teeth to be increasingly stained as food products attach to it.
It is near impossible for you to remove this yourself by brushing your teeth. Even ‘scrubbing’ your teeth really hard will be ineffective and will probably damage the enamel, leading to other problems. Part of your visit to our hygienist then will take the form of a professional clean, known as a ‘scale and polish’. This is a non-invasive procedure and no local anaesthetic should be required.
The procedure consists of three parts. The first of these is a manual removal of the bulk of the tartar. This uses a hooked implement that gently scrapes away the majority of the ‘crust’. This is followed by a sonic tool that uses gentle sonic vibrations that shatter yet more of the tartar which is washed away using water suction. Finally, your teeth and gum line will be given a ‘polish’ which uses a special brush and paste that cleans the remaining tartar from the teeth and around the gums.
Once this treatment is complete, you will notice how smooth your teeth feel again and also, how much cleaner they look. This is due to much surface staining being removed, although this will not affect any internal darkening of the teeth. To correct this, you would need to have a teeth whitening procedure.
The dental hygienist will also discuss your general oral health care with you and may make recommendations on ways to improve your cleaning and may suggest particular toothpastes etc that they feel will be very beneficial to you as well.
While for most people, a six monthly visit to our Acton hygienist should be sufficient, some, such as smokers or diabetics who are more prone to gum disease may need to make more frequent visits to maintain a healthy mouth. We will offer advice on this.
If you don’t already see the hygienist, there is no better time to start than now. To make your appointment, please contact the Acton Vale Dental Centre today on 020 8749 3267.