Home hygiene is not enough, a regular visit by a hygienist and a professional oral hygiene session are necessary. That’s why dentists have to do it too!
Proper daily oral hygiene is the first step to maintaining a healthy oral cavity. Good home oral hygiene is achieved with proper brushing and flossing or picks (interdental brushes). Nevertheless, even perfect oral hygiene management does not exempt one from the need for a check-up by a hygienist and a professional oral hygiene session at least every 6 months, if not more frequently in special circumstances.
Oral hygiene lesson
Even an adult can learn to clean their teeth better. If we think about it, after all, who and when taught us how to brush our teeth? The hygienist, a person with a university degree and specialized in this area, can help the patient learn or improve the use of the many aids available today to achieve better management of one’s mouth. To understand when to use an electric toothbrush or a manual one, whether it is better to use a wire or a brush, which mouthwashes to use and how to manage dentures or implants. It is also essential for children, so that they can familiarize themselves with the procedures and, through play, understand how to brush their teeth better.
Calculus remotion
This is the removal of supragingival calculus with the help of ultrasonic scalers that have the ability to crush tartar without harming the enamel surface at all and without damaging the teeth.
Polishing
Polishing of tooth surfaces using prophy paste.
Removal of exogenous pigmentations
This is the removal from the enamel surface of exogenous pigmentations caused in most cases by calculus, caffeine stains, nicotine etc. In rarer cases, they may be due to alterations in the tooth element during embryogenesis (tooth development), such as enamel hypoplasia or imperfect tooth enamel development.
Topical application of fluoride
Fluoride exerts its action both directly on the mineral component of the tooth and on plaque bacteria; the use of fluoride gel (fixed on the enamel surface by topical application) is indicated for those patients considered to be at high risk of caries.
Topical application of antiseptic agents
Consists of the application of antiseptic and/or antibacterial substances within the periodontal pockets; indicated for periodontal disease or after surgery to promote healing or to prevent bacterial growth.
Professional whitening with laser or at home treatment
To lighten the shade of teeth, it is possible to use peroxide-based products that have an oxidizing action and make even the most yellowed teeth whiter or remove those white stains sometimes present especially on frontal incisors, without obviously causing any damage to the enamel. A gel applied to the teeth is exposed to a laser light that aims to activate a chemical reaction that favours the penetration of the peroxide through the prisms of the enamel. Or the same gel, at a lower concentration, can be applied directly by the patient at home with the help of special custom-made masks.
Endodontic whitening
A non-vital (or devitalised) tooth can sometimes show a change in colour, becoming duller and therefore darker, causing unpleasant aesthetic problems, especially if it is in the anterior tooth group. The technique called “walking bleach” consists of inserting peroxide-based bleaching products into the pulp chamber. The aesthetic result is generally obtained in 2 to 5 sessions.
Sealing
A very useful procedure is the sealing of children’s first permanent molars, which often have very deep grooves and are therefore difficult to manage in daily oral hygiene.
A fluid resin with a slow release of fluoride is applied to them to protect the enamel from future caries. It is a very useful form of active, mechanical prevention from the risk of dental caries.
Root polishing
This is the removal of subgingival tartar at the level of periodontal pockets; it can be performed under local anesthesia.
Open root planing
Similar to the previous one, but after removal of the gingiva from the underlying bone planes. This practice is necessary when the periodontal pockets are so deep that they cannot be completely cleaned with the previous methods. It is a surgical procedure and must be performed by a dentist who has the appropriate level of preparation for this treatment.
