Dental Cleanings with Your Family Dentist Pendleton, IN
Is it important to make appointments every six months with your dentist’s office for routine dental cleanings? Even if you brush, floss, and rinse with mouthwash three times a day, it is vital for sustaining your oral health. If you care enough about your oral hygiene to be properly caring for your teeth at home, then you will understand that having a cleaning done every six months is just another part of the way you keep your mouth as healthy as possible. It is just as important
as brushing, flossing, and having a proper diet that helps your mouth rather than hurts it.
Usually, dental professionals and hygienists perform cleanings on their patients during their first visit to the dentist’s office, or during their routine cleanings. The difference between regular at-home care like brushing and flossing and having a professional cleaning is how deep of a clean you get. The dental professionals use specialized tools that are designed to remove any plaque, old food, mineralized bacteria, and other nasty stuff from every single part of your mouth. Brushing and flossing, and even using the best mouthwash only clean your mouth so well, and you will always miss some spots. Those spots that are missed are usually missed over and again because of a person’s habits when cleaning their mouths. Those spots can create a haven for bacteria to grow and can create cavities, tooth sensitivity, swelling, gum sensitivity, and other problems. The routine cleaning is not just for cleaning out every square inch of your mouth, but it is also for finding the places that you are missing during your normal hygiene routine at home.
How a Dental Cleaning is Performed
Again, a dental hygienist who specializes in how to keep the mouth as clean as possible will normally be responsible for cleanings. The cleanings are about an hour long. There is no discomfort or pain whatsoever, and most people find that it feels quite good getting their gums massaged with the soft brushes. People certainly feel much better after the cleaning is done.
The dental hygienist will first scale the teeth to remove all the plaque, tartar, and other stuck on bacteria and materials so they can properly clean the actual enamel of the teeth. The dental professional may use electric scalers or do this process by hand. Scaling is basically using a tool that scrapes the teeth and the gum pockets where the tooth and gums meet. This process is not painful at all. If you do experience any discomfort like if you have sensitivity in your gums, let your hygienist know, and they will accommodate you to have a painless experience.
The second and final step is done after the scaling is complete. Your mouth will be rinsed out to remove all the nasty stuff the dental professional removed. Then they will polish your teeth and massage your gums with a special soft brush that removes the last of the bacteria and plaque and buffs the enamel of the teeth to ensure they are pearly white and shiny when the process is done. They will change the heads of the special brush tool often, and they will brush every part of your teeth and gums, effectively reaching all the places that were neglected over the past six months.
After the Cleaning
Once the cleaning process is complete, your dentist might show up to do a quick evaluation of the status of your teeth and gums to see if there are any follow up appointments necessary to fix or prevent any problems that are occurring or will occur. When you made your appointment, you may have asked for a tooth whitening procedure after your cleaning, to which you will receive that service immediately after if you have been cleared with a clean bill of health. Once all that is done, you will make another appointment if you need other services, or in another six months to have another routine cleaning done.
