Why is professional teeth cleaning so important?
No matter how thorough your daily hygiene routines are, professional teeth cleaning remains an indispensable part of oral care for anyone who cares about the health of their teeth and gums.
There is a very simple explanation: plaque forms over the entire surface of the teeth, each tooth has its “blame area”. When you floss and brush your teeth you simply skip those spots or can`t reach them. Plaques that stay on enamel can mineralize over time and turn into stone.
Dental stones can cause a lot of dental problems.
The formed stone is a favorable environment for the growth and reproduction of bacteria that harm the health of the oral cavity. Bacteria significantly increase the risk of inflammatory and infectious gum diseases. If the process isn’t stopped in time, the bacteria will spread deeper and deeper, destroying teeth and gums.
To avoid this, the best solution is to see your hygienist at least every 6 months. However, if you have some gum problems and gum disease you should visit your dental office more often. Here at the My Dentist of Boca Raton, we recommend seeing your hygienist every 3-4 months if you have signs of gum problems.
Our experienced dental hygienist can gently and painlessly remove the cause of potential diseases — harmful plaque and tartar.
What types of teeth cleanings do we offer?
There are three main types of dental cleanings: prophylaxis cleaning, scaling and root planing, and gross debridement. While they all accomplish essentially the same thing — cleaner teeth — they are performed differently and for different reasons.
- Prophylaxis teeth cleaning: is basically a dental term for regular teeth cleaning. Regular prophylaxis appointments are recognized by the American Dental Association and dental insurance companies as a necessary preventive measure once every six months. At Fort Lauderdale Dental & Aesthetic Center, this type of cleaning will take anywhere from 30 minutes up to 1 hour.
- Full mouth debridement is defined as the “gross removal of plaque and calculus (tarter) that interfere with the ability of the dentist to perform a comprehensive oral examination”. What this means is that there is a buildup of plaque and calculus that has started to imbed itself in and around the gums and between the teeth. Full mouth debridement may take about one hour.
- Deep cleaning is also known as scaling and root planing (SPR). Removing plaque and tarter from the teeth’s surface and gum pockets is known as scaling, while root planning involves removing plaque and tartar from the surface of the roots. To do an SRP cleaning for a full mouth may take up to 2 hours. Here at Fort Lauderdale Dental & Aesthetic Center, we recommend doing it in two sittings (one day – we clean one side, let’s say upper right and lower right, and then on the next appointment in a couple of days – we can do upper left and lower left). Here is why we recommend that: Scaling and root planing are usually completed with a local anesthetic. We want to make sure that all of your mouth is numb after the deep cleaning is done for a couple of hours. We love our patients. That’s why our dental professionals recommend the one side first- that way, you can chew on the other, and then at your next appointment you do the other side.
We are lucky to live in the 21st century because dental hygienists have a lot of tools at their disposal which help to improve our dental health. The most popular treatment for gum disease is Dental Laser treatment for the gums. Laser gum treatment is an alternative treatment to traditional gum surgery, without the cutting and stitching that was required with older treatment methods. Learn more about our dental laser treatment here or simply call our dental front desk if you need any dental help
How do I know what kind of dental cleaning I need?
Unfortunately, even if the visible part of your teeth look clean, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have plugs, tarter, and stones under the gum line. To have a correct answer, your dentist needs to see your x-rays. In most cases, stones are visible only on the x-rays.
Here at Fort Lauderdale Dental & Aesthetic Center, we accept most dental insurances. The list of dental insurances that we accept can be found here.