The ADA — American Dental Association — strongly encourages a teeth cleaning and oral examination two times a year (or every 6 months), and if a patient has major dental issues such as periodonal disease, it's encouraged to get a cleaning every 3 months.
Doing so significantly lowers your risk of preventable oral disease or issues.
Depending on the patient's oral health, a teeth cleaning on average takes 30 minutes to an hour.
Fortunately, we have overhead televisions with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video to keep our patients occupied!
There are so many benefits to teeth cleaning! Dental cleanings help keep your teeth and gums healthy, which lowers the risk of gum disease down the road and will save you money on dental operations or procedures including deep cleaning (scaling / root planing), bone grafting, gum grafting, teeth replacement, or dentures.
While there are some bacteria that is beneficial to your oral health, a long-term build up of plaque can be quite harmful to your overall well being. Large plaque build up release acids that can and will break down your teeth's natural enamel — the tooth's outer coating — which can NOT be naturally restored! In addition, the released acid can target and inflame your gums, which promotes tooth decay, discoloration, gum disease, or tooth loss.
Practicing a thorough oral hygiene regimen twice a day, and getting your teeth cleaned twice a year dramatically reduces your risk of future teeth or gum problems.
Dental cleanings are not intentionally painful, but if a patient has a large or excess amount of plaque build up, we do have to increase the amount of pressure to help remove the remaining plaque.
If at anytime you feel uncomfortable or feel pain, let us know so we can proceed comfortably and safe. Our patient's comfort is our number one priority!
To keep your teeth as clean as possible in between cleanings, we recommend the following:
— Brush your teeth twice a day (one of those times right before bed)
— Floss your teeth before bedtime
— Using a toothpaste with fluoride, which prevents tooth decay and the breakdown of tooth enamel
— Utilizing a bacteria killling / fluoride mouthwash
