HYGIENESTS

HYGIENESTS AND THEIR ROLES IN MAINTAINING GUM HEALTH

What is a Hygienist?

Dental hygienists are dental care professionals who are uniquely prepared to watch out for signs of gum disease and manage these ailments with the dental specialist. Hygienest are trained to provide oral health education, dietary advice, apply fluoride coatings to teeth, deep scaling of roots and taking x-rays and many others.

Why Seeing a Hygienist is Significant

Gum disease will get worse if it is not treated. Because it is painless, it can become very bad without noticing. When there is not enough supporting bone left, teeth become loose and eventually have to be taken out. Root planning can stop gum disease becoming worse and prevent tooth loss.

Like scaling and polishing, root planning helps you to keep your teeth and gums clean at home. Dentists and hygienists cannot keep your mouth healthy by themselves. Your own cleaning is just as important.

SCALING AND POLISHING

Scaling is a mechanical removal of the hard tartar which forms on your teeth like scale inside a kettle. Scaling also removes trapped food and plaque containing millions of germs which can cause tooth decay and gum disease. Stains from coffee, tea, cigarettes or red wine are also cleaned away when your dentist polishes your teeth.

If you have gum disease, scaling needs to be deeper, around the roots of the teeth. This is called ‘root planning’. Your dentist will give you a local anaesthetic to make it more comfortable. Your dentist or hygienist will show you the best way to clean your teeth and gums thoroughly at home.

A dentist or dental hygienist will scale your teeth. If you clean your teeth very thoroughly anyway, your scale and polish will take less time.