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E: At Southfield Dental, our fully trained and professional dental hygienist will focus on preventing and treating gum disease, as well as promoting good oral hygiene. Following your routine dental check-up, you will usually be referred to a hygienist, who will conduct a thorough assessment and clean of your teeth. We recommend that you visit our hygienist regularly to ensure your complete oral health and to prevent any serious issues arising.
The Treatment Process
Following the assessment of your gums and discussion of any particular concerns you may have; our dental team will then begin a process called ‘scale and polish’. We will start by scaling the teeth, which is the process of removing the build-up of plaque and tartar along and under the gum line by using a range of specialist dental equipment. This process will then make it easier for you to maintain the cleanliness of your teeth by removing the rough surface that typically attracts plaque.
We will then polish your teeth to leave them shiny and smooth. Should you have gum disease that has progressed beyond the early stages, we can remove deep tartar from the root surfaces. This is known as deep scaling, root planing, or root surface debridement. It involves deeper cleaning under the gum line and may require an anaesthetic.
Following your scale and polish, we will then offer helpful hygiene advice and demonstrate how to keep your teeth plaque-free with toothbrushes, interdental brushes and floss.
To book an appointment, please don’t hesitate to get in touch
At Southfield Dental, we recommend the following preventative practices to ensure optimum oral health:
• Brushing twice a day and cleaning teeth with floss or interdental brushes
• Giving up smoking as this can exacerbate gum problems and cause staining
• Reducing the number of sugary snacks and drinks consumed
• Encouraging your children to start looking after their teeth as early as possible
Benefits
Visiting the hygienist on a regular basis provides a wealth of benefits, such as preventing gum disease and maintaining excellent oral health. By keeping your teeth clean, you’ll have a smile you can truly be proud of, as well as prevent a variety of unwanted problems from occurring.
Chris’ Expert Opinion
Hygiene treatment is not a new concept and comes under the area of ‘preventative dentistry’. Whist we may have excellent oral hygiene techniques of brushing and flossing, we will still be unable to remove the hardened calculus or tartar from under the gum levels. When this builds up it causes the gums to swell (gingivitis) and can lead to other issues.
Patients will build up this calculus at different rates and the dentist and hygiene team will advise on the best frequency for your cleaning and maintenance. This normally ranges from every 3 months to annually.
We would strongly advise that all patients keep up a regular preventative program of ‘scaling’ and ‘cleaning’ with our hygiene team.