An appointment with your dental hygienist is so much more than just a simple ‘’scale and polish’’.
A dental hygienist plays a big role in many aspects of your overall dental health and even general health.
At first, a close examination of your health history is taken in order to determine what medical problems you may have. These can be medications, allergies and past surgeries amongst others. The reason for this is that there are several links between general health and dental health that one may not be aware about.
Your dental hygienist will help guide you through all steps you need to take in maintaining your dental hygiene. This includes asking information regarding your past cleans, checkups, helping with concerns you may have or even discussing how you feel about visiting to the dentist or hygienist, so that we can cater your treatment as best as possible.
Although we are not your dentist, we can certainly examine your mouth for any lumps, bumps, sores, cavities, or anything out of the ordinary which we can then refer to the dentist or appropriate practitioner to look at more closely. However, our most important role is to examine your periodontal health.
What is this you ask?
We use a little measuring probe to measure the space between your teeth and gums, where we check for bleeding, areas of bacteria buildup, tartar or any gum recession. This will give us an idea of the health of not only your gums, but also your teeth. If within our expertise, we can complete the cleaning and see you regularly for regular hygiene appointments. If we find that you will benefit from seeing other dental specialists or practitioners, we will discuss and refer as required.
A scale and clean will be completed depending on the state of your gum health, measures can also be taken to help reduce any discomfort if required for example numbing gel or local anesthetic.
A scale and clean is the removal of plaque, tartar and staining from your teeth using an ultrasonic tool, hand tool scaling, polishing. The aim of this is to eliminate the bacteria from the mouth and maintain healthy oral environment. But our work doesn’t end just there.
Our most important role is to educate you on how best to keep your teeth and gums clean at home on a regular basis in between your hygiene appointments as this is crucial to the outcome of your overall dental health. Sometimes, this may even include prescribing certain products or tools and showing you how to use them correctly. Brushing, flossing, mouthwash, toothpaste – you name it, we go through everything.
Depending on the condition of your gums we will book your next appointment in ether 3, 4 or 6 months.
