Why Should I See A Dental Hygienist?

At Barrington Dental Care in Altrincham, seeing a dental hygienist is an integral part of your dental care. Our dentists work with our dental hygienists to ensure you receive the best possible preventive care and if necessary interceptive treatment.

You may see a dental hygienist for:

• Gum treatment to treat gum disease otherwise known as periodontal disease
• Prevention of gum disease – oral hygiene education
• Prevention of tooth decay – perhaps fluoride treatments or fissure sealants

Everyone is different and our dental hygiene team understand this and so they will provide personalised preventive plans for each and every patient.

With the correct advice and implementing an achievable home hygiene routine, you can really prevent most dental problems.

Your dentist and hygienist will recommend that you visit every six months or every three months for routine maintenance and prevention continuation. If you have had gum disease in the past it is more likely that the team will want to monitor your gums more regularly and hence see you every three months.

All our dental hygienists are able to diagnose gum disease and they will do this by:

• Inspecting the gums – how do they look?
• Is there any bleeding present, either spontaneous or on probing?
• Are there any gaps between the gums and the root of the tooth? – what we call “pockets” – pockets are a more advanced sign of gum disease.

Your hygienist will inspect your gums at every appointment to assess the presence of active disease and looking for deposits on the tooth and root surface too.

They will clean the surface of the tooth and roots to remove these surface deposits and then show you a method to keep the teeth clear of deposits.

There are many different ways to keep your teeth and gums clear of deposits, your hygienist will teach you how to use items in the best way possible:

• A toothbrush – either a manual one or an electric one
• Interdental cleansing methods – either floss or interdental brushes
• How to clean your tongue
• Advice in the use of any extra products such as mouthwashes or special toothpastes.

We find that patients who see our dental hygienists regularly have a higher level of dental health than those that don’t so we usually recommend for most patients. We also know that with better dental health comes better overall health as dental and general health have so many links.

Our dental hygienists also help with prevention of dental decay in all patients but especially our youngest patients. They may provide brushing guidance and advice about diet, particularly about frequency of sugar intake. They may apply fluoride to teeth to help strengthen them against decay or erosion and they may even apply sealants to the biting surfaces of teeth to help soften the valleys in the teeth and increase their resistance to decay and acids.

When did you last see your hygienist? Is it time?