25 Apr Visiting the Dental Hygienist

Prevention is always better than cure and that is the mantra of our dental hygienists. They work hard as part of the team at Thackeray Dental Care to not only treat gum disease but prevent it from happening in the first place. They are also great at helping prevent tooth decay.

Dental Hygienists will

• Educate you with good toothbrushing instruction
• Teach you about your diet and hidden sugars
• Provide cleansing treatments including air polishing
• Provide more advanced gum treatments to treat gum disease or periodontal disease
• Apply fluoride gels to teeth to help strengthen teeth or reduce sensitivity
• Apply fissure sealants to teeth to help prevent decay happening where deep pits and fissures occur

Our Dental Hygienists form an integral part of your treatment care at Thackeray Dental Care. We encourage you to see our hygienists at least once a year and we prescribe how often you need to see them to maintain your gum and dental health. Some of our patients attend more regularly every three months or so if their needs are greater.

A hygienist will very much work with an individual patients to provide a custom plan. No two people are the same and therefore the solutions to prevent disease are not always the same either.

Our hygienists encourage a regular toothbrushing plan using either a manual brush or an electric brush. Electric brushes are becoming more popular and more easily accessible but again not suitable for everyone. You will be advised which model is more suited for you.

The same for interdental cleansing. We all know that we should floss and it can be a bit of a chore but interdental cleansing is an essential part of your cleansing routine. If you don’t cleanse interdentally you could be missing up to 25% of your tooth surfaces. However, there are other methods than floss, such as interdental brushes and the Airflosser and again our hygienists will help you find the method that works best for you.

Some patients with more advanced gum disease may have deep pockets or gaps between the tooth and the supporting bone to clean, these may benefit from a waterpik or a water jet to cleanse the pockets. Again our hygienists are there to advise and recommend the correct method for you.

Most of our patients choose to join one of our Dental Plans which involve either 1, 2 or 4 visits to the hygienist a year plus visits to the dentist too. We try to co-ordinate these visits so you see both your hygienist and dentist on the same day for your convenience.

If you would like to start seeing a dental hygienist as part of your personalised dental health plan then we would be delighted to see you and accept you for care at Thackeray Dental Care in Mansfield.