When To See The Hygienist?
The importance of our Bedford hygienist’s role should not be underestimated.
The majority of people in the UK will see their dentist twice a year for their regular check ups. Whilst some people may choose not to, regular attendance is widely recognised as the sensible thing to do if you want to keep your teeth healthy.
Far fewer people have the same approach to their local dental hygienist however. This is unfortunate as they play a very important role in keeping your whole mouth in good health. For those unfamiliar with what happens during a typical visit, our Dental Centre Bedford hygienist explains below:
Education
Education plays an important part of the hygienist’s role. For this reason, we recommend that even children see a hygienist on a regular basis. This is a great way to encourage them to clean their teeth properly, without it being seen as a ‘lecture’ from mum and dad! For very young children, we may use toys and other child friendly methods to get them into good oral health habits from an early age.
It isn’t just children who can benefit from these visits. Many adults clean their teeth as their parents taught them, often incorrectly. We will not only demonstrate how to clean your teeth correctly, both by brushing and the use of dental floss, but also discuss potentially damaging habits such as smoking and alcohol.
Scale and polish
The scale and polish procedure, or ‘scrape and polish’ as we have also heard it called, is a painless procedure that removes hardened bacteria, known as tartar, from the surface of the teeth and underneath the gum line.
The process involves the removal of the tartar from the spaces between and around the teeth. This involves the use of a hook-like implement that can reach between the teeth. This may feel a little strange, but is not painful and requires no local anaesthetic. Following this, a sonic implement is used which shatters and removes the tartar from the surface of the tooth enamel. Finally, the teeth are polished with a very high speed brush. This not only removes any remaining deposits, but also some surface staining which can help to brighten the teeth a little.
Most important of all, of course, is that this treatment by our Bedford hygienist helps to keep your gums healthy and free from gingivitis or periodontitis, the latter especially, being a real risk to maintaining stable teeth.
If you do not currently see a hygienist and would like to discover how much better your teeth and gums can feel, why not arrange your first appointment by calling The Dental Centre Bedford on 01234 819868.