People who are diligent about maintaining good oral care habits already schedule regular check-ups with a den-tist in order to get an examination and teeth cleaning. But some may be wondering if you’re already brushing and flossing your teeth anyway, and your dentist has just given you a clean bill of health, is there a point to get-ting a professionally administered teeth cleaning?
Here’s what this dental duty does for you.
Tartar Removal
Sometimes, even your best efforts at brushing and flossing may not have prevented tartar from building up around certain parts of your mouth. Professional teeth cleaning, however, can get at these spots effectively and remove them so that they don’t build up into problematic layers.
Polishing
Dentists can, during the teeth cleaning process, apply a polish to your teeth that can remove stains and restore the whiteness of your mouth to its former levels. While you can always buy whitening agents at a store, these are rarely as effective—or as professionally applied—as what a dentist can do during a teeth cleaning.
Preventive Maintenance
Regularly scheduled teeth cleaning, when combined with a proper dental check-up of your mouth, is one of the best ways to keep a dental problem from turning into something far more serious, potentially expensive, and possibly even painful. With the regular removal of plaque and tartar, you can avoid contracting serious gum diseases like periodontitis, which can involve painful infections and even the loss of teeth.
The prevention of gum disease through teeth cleaning and regular check-ups is important because not only can periodontitis lead to the loss of teeth, it can hamper recovery efforts. If your tooth loss gets to the point where your dentist recommends dental implants, you will need treatment to stop the gum disease first, before you can even think about replacing teeth.
