Cleaning and Prevention
Preventative dentistry is the practice of caring for your teeth and gums to keep them healthy, thereby avoiding problems ever starting.
Team Effort
Our dental hygienist can work with you to ensure your gums are kept clean and healthy, preventing gum disease.
You work at home to achieve good cleaning methods and sound habits and your dental team point you in the right direction with help and advice and take care of the unseen problems and act early if necessary.
This helps to avoid cavities, gum disease and tooth wear and reduces treatment. Fewer fillings, fewer lost teeth and less tooth pain for life has to be good!
Your dentist or hygienist will assess your mouth and recommend a single appointment, course of treatment or maintenance plan to keep your teeth and mouth in the best condition possible.
Regular dental examinations ensure your gums are checked, tracked and monitored to ensure prevention is at the forefront.
Gum Disease
There are various symptoms of gum disease. Bleeding gums, redness, swelling, achy discomfort or wobbly teeth. Over time, gum disease leads to a loss of the bone that supports the teeth (their foundations) and they become loose or fall out.
Many factors contribute to gum disease, but a major contributing factor is dental plaque. Plaque is a soft material that looks like a thin layer of mashed potato, which sits at the junction of your tooth and gum. It contains a matrix with millions of bacteria (70% bacteria, 30% glycoproteins and polysaccharides). You could wipe if off with a towel it is that soft. However a toothbrush is better designed to get into all the nooks and crannies!
As soon as you brush off the plaque layer, it is already starting to rebuild itself again. So ensure you keep up a good routine of daily cleaning to prevent its build-up. Cleaning our teeth twice a day with a brush (and something to get between each one too), helps to ensure we continually remove the plaque film.
Treating Adults & Children
We treat adults and children. Our dental Hygienists and Dental Therapists work closely with you to help treat problems such as stain removal, bleeding or swollen gums, bad breath or tastes and loose teeth.
The 1st session often involves recording your present gum health so there is a benchmark to measure how successful treatment is, taking x-rays and establishing what course of treatment to arrange. You will also be shown how to look after your mouth. This will include brushing, cleaning between your teeth and diet advice, smoking cessation and anything in your medical history that may make you more susceptible to gum disease. For example, diabetes or smoking.
Once clean, you will see and feel the difference in your smile! You will feel more confident inside, knowing you have a clean and healthy mouth.
For those patients looking to remove the toughest stains caused by day to day drinking, eating and smoking, we are able to offer air polishing treatment. This is also an ideal treatment for those who experience dental anxiety or have sensitive teeth since it is a particularly gentle procedure.
Dental Implants
Good oral hygiene and oral health is particularly important for people with dental implants. Dental implants work well but are made of titanium and lack the blood flow of a normal tooth. They can be more susceptible to gum problems if not looked after well. If you have dental implants, this may be why we are a little more encouraging about you maintaining good oral health.
Smoking and your gum health
The effects of smoking on our lungs is now well recognised. The first area smoke passes on its way to our lungs is our poor mouth and gums! The toxins in the smoke kill off the small blood vessels that supply blood and white blood cells to our gums. Therefore our defence mechanism is lowered and our susceptibility to bacteria and gum disease increases. Also, the tar in the smoke forms a sticky layer on the tooth, which enables plaque to build up quicker. All round, not a great help for our gum health. We encourage our patients’ who smoke, to try to reduce the number of times they smoke per day until they can quit. We can help recommend ways to do this if required – please ask if you need help.
It’s important to do everything you can at home to take good care of your teeth. However, a professional Dental Hygiene treatment is always recommended to ensure your teeth and gums are as healthy as possible.
Please contact us today to book your appointment.