Hygiene Services

Dental cleanings are an important part of your dental health. Keeping your teeth and gums healthy is the first line of defense against cavities and gum disease. Even if you brush and floss regularly, dental calculus still builds up around your teeth and under your gums. This calculus is a perfect spot for bacteria and inflammatory byproducts to hide. Over time if this calculus isn’t removed, it will cause your gums to get red and inflamed (gingivitis). This can cause the bone around your teeth to slowly retract down the root surface, causing recession and bone loss. As both the gums and bone around the teeth begin to recede, the teeth may begin to get mobile as the bone that supports them disappears.

The best way to combat this disease process is with regular dental cleanings. Your hygienist will work with you to determine a proper cleaning schedule for you. The most common schedules are every 4 months, 6 months, and 12 months depending on what our hygienists see and recommend. Everyone’s mouth is different and requires different care, book an appointment with our hygienists to see what they recommend for you!

New Cleaning Techniques

As the world and technology moves forward, the dental industry and cleaning techniques are continually changing and innovating too!

Calculus build up on your teeth and gums needs to be cleaned away for a healthy mouth. A cavitron or ultrasonicscaler is a top of the line cleaner that vibrates and sprays water to clean and remove calculus. This tool helps ensure patient comfort, as there is less pressure when removing the calculus and it works quicker than other methods, even on the most stubborn of build up.

For those who do not like the ultrasonicscaler, hand scaling is an alternative method that your hygienist may use during your cleaning. Scaling removes all of the plaque and tartar build up from your teeth right down to your gums, ensuring you have a happy and healthy mouth.

To give your teeth that extra shine, polishing can be done with a prophy paste (with the added benefit of also helping to remove plaque). There are different levels of abrasiveness to the prophy pastes, and depending on the amount of plaque and staining your hygienist will choose the appropriate coarseness to suit your individual needs.

A fluoride varnish can be used as a treatment to prevent tooth decay. This treatment is safe, for you and your child, and will sit on your teeth for 4-12 hours, until it is then brushed off with regular brushing. This treatment helps to prevent tooth decay and strengthens your enamel, helping to keep your teeth strong and healthy.

How Does Flouride Benefit my Teeth?

You probably have heard the word fluoride before, and have a basic understanding that it helps to strengthen your teeth, but what is it exactly?

Fluoride is a mineral that is used to help strengthen tooth enamel (or the outer surface of the tooth). Fluoride can be found many places naturally, but also can be added to water or to various dental products to help give your teeth a boost in protection. Typically at the dentist it is applied in the form of a varnish that is painted on your teeth and brushed off at a later time.

One major benefit of flouride is that it works by bonding to the hydroxyapatite structure in the enamel, making it more difficult to be broken down by cavities causing acids produced by bacteria. It also remineralizing parts of the tooth structure that have just started the cavity forming process

Why is flouride so important? It helps aid in the process of remineralization. Remineralization of your teeth is the natural process of repair for your teeth and their enamel. Remineralization is a daily occurrence with your teeth, so it is important to make sure that the process occurs seamlessly, which fluoride can help aid.

Lastly, while fluoride will not stop cavities from occurring, it can help with the prevention of cavities. By creating stronger enamel and making sure that the daily remineralization process is helping to rebuild and strengthen your teeth, you can help prevent the bacteria causing cavities to wear through your tooth enamel.