Dental hygiene
For the cleaning side of a regular visit, and for gums that need watching between them.
Dental hygiene is the cleaning part of your visit: scaling off hardened plaque, polishing, and sorting out what is not working at home. It removes the hardened plaque a brush cannot reach, which is what starts gum disease.
When brushing is not keeping up.
- Six months or more have passed since your last cleaning.
- You brush and floss every day and still feel hard build-up behind your lower front teeth.
- The same spot bleeds every time you floss it.
- Coffee, tea or smoking has left stain that brushing no longer shifts.
- You have braces, an implant, a bridge or a partial denture that is awkward to clean around.
A hygiene visit, step by step.
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01
Gums checked first
Before anything is scaled, the gum around each tooth is measured with a small probe and checked for bleeding. That tells us whether you need a routine cleaning or the deeper kind.
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02
Scaling
Hardened plaque comes off above and below the gum line, with an ultrasonic tip for the bulk of it and fine hand instruments for the rest. This is the long part if it has been a while, and we pause whenever you need to.
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03
Polishing
A soft cup and paste take off the film and surface stain that scaling leaves behind. If you get cavities easily, a fluoride varnish goes on last.
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04
What to change at home
We show you the two or three spots you are missing, and whether a small interdental brush would reach them better than floss. You get a plain answer on which habits are actually causing the build-up.
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05
Your next interval
You leave with a date for the next cleaning. Six months suits most people; bleeding gums or heavy build-up usually mean three or four months for a while, then you stretch it out again.
How we bill a hygiene visit.
A cleaning is usually one appointment, booked alongside your check-up. Scaling is billed by the time it takes, in units, and most plans allow a set number of units a year rather than a set number of visits. If it has been years, the build-up may need a second appointment, and we say so before we start.
Ask us what it will costDental hygiene, answered.
Is the deep cleaning different from the ordinary one?
Yes, and the difference is how far under the gum it goes. Ordinary scaling cleans around and just under the gum edge; the deeper kind cleans the root surface inside a pocket, is usually done with the area frozen, and takes more than one visit.
Why does my insurance run out before the year does?
Most plans pay for a number of scaling units, not a number of cleanings. A long appointment uses more units, so a heavy build-up can use most of a year's allowance in two visits. We check what you have left before booking.
Does scaling loosen your teeth?
No. Tartar can be filling a space where the gum has already receded, so a tooth can feel different once it is off. Any looseness comes from bone lost underneath, not from the cleaning.
Is an electric toothbrush better than a manual one?
For most people, yes, mainly because they brush for longer and press less hard. A manual brush used properly for two minutes, twice a day, does the same job.
