Plaque and Tartar Control
Reducing the risk of gum disease for our Burton patients.
At Mike Allen’s Dental Practice, one of the things that we are concerned about is ensuring that our patients are free of gum disease. With good brushing and flossing, along with regular routine check ups, this should be relatively straightforward.
Regular visits to our Burton hygienist helps in the prevention of gingivitis and periodontitis and whilst good home brushing certainly plays a major part in gum disease prevention, a professional clean, using specialised equipment, ensures that hidden or difficult to remove bacteria can be cleaned from the teeth and gum line.
Gingival bacteria manifest in the mouth in two forms, plaque and tartar, and we take a look at both of these below.
Plaque
Plaque is very common and does not mean that you have gum disease. It is though, important to keep your mouth plaque free as much as possible, as, if left, plaque can contribute to a higher risk of gingivitis. By and large, plaque is easily removed by brushing and flossing and providing that you do these things regularly and have a professional clean from time to time, there should be few problems. You should also stay well hydrated to reduce the amount of plaque as bacteria grow faster in a warm dry environment such as a dry mouth.
Tartar
Tartar is a hardened form of bacteria which sticks to the teeth and gum lines. Unfortunately, this can’t be removed by home brushing and flossing and needs specialised equipment to remove it. This procedure is called a ‘scale and polish’ and can normally be performed without the need for a local anaesthetic. As with plaque, removing tartar from the teeth and gum line helps to reduce the risk of gum disease quite significantly.
Whilst a scale and polish is generally performed by the hygienist at Mike Allen’s Dental Practice in Burton on Trent, in cases where bacteria has established on the tooth below the gum line, a procedure called a deep clean or root planing will need to be performed by the dentist or potentially by a periodontist (gum specialist).
Deep clean
A deep clean involves the removal of hardened bacteria from not only the teeth, but well below the gum line, potentially down to the roots of the tooth. For this procedure a local anaesthetic will be used as it would otherwise be painful. Patients that receive this treatment may find that their teeth and gums are more sensitive for a short time afterwards and it is advisable to avoid very hot or cold food or drinks for a while.
To make sure that you have a healthy mouth, free of gum disease, please call Mike Allen’s Burton dental practice for an appointment with our hygienist on 01283 845345.