Prevention and Maintenance

This is the most common reason for a patient to be seeking a dental appointment. We have come across many patients at MHP Dental who will say that they do not need to see a dentist every 6 months for professional scaling and many people do not for a variety of reasons (time, being busy, finances and fear probably being the most common).

The reason that patients are encouraged to see a dentist every 6 months for a check-up and professional scaling is more to do with hygiene than the teeth themselves. All people will get a build-up of scale (tartar) around their teeth as time passes. Some people are prone to a large volume of build up and others to very little. This is dependent on the quality of their oral hygiene (brushing and flossing), diet, predisposition to the build-up (some people just get more than others) and external factors such as a dry mouth (patients with a dry mouth especially require very rigorous maintenance) and some medications.

Teeth will generally not incur significant change from one visit to the next, but the gums can incur change every 6 months and quite severely at times depending on the above factors. The scale (tartar) build up will cause chronic inflammation of your gums (gingivitis) which makes your gums appear red and they will bleed when touched or brushed. The tartar build up is always yellow in colour therefore making the teeth appear stained and “dirty”. The tartar is also a scaffolding for millions of bacteria and in turn bad breath, as the bacteria produce smelly gases which are perceived as bad breath. Finally, if the tartar is not removed regularly, it leads to gum disease which results in painful, bleeding and swollen gums that lead to loose teeth and eventually tooth loss. The replacement of lost teeth then adds further psychological and financial stress and the gum disease that caused the tooth loss in the first place may be a hindrance to the lost teeth being replaced as well.

So, as you can see, not having your teeth cleaned of the tartar build up is a very long slippery slope to gum issues and eventual tooth loss if not treated. All this can be avoided easily by regular 6 monthly professional scaling and education in good oral hygiene habits. Furthermore, bad gum health has cosmetic knock on effects which are then also very difficult to address causing the patient more distress.

We at MHP Dental strongly believe in putting our patients in firm control of their oral hygiene and oral health in order to prevent all the above issues, thereby preventing financial and psychological anguish in the long term.

If you are looking for a dental practice that will look after you as a person look no further, we welcome you and look forward to seeing you soon. Call us on 98872044 or click the “Book Online” button to book an appointment online.