Dental Hygiene

Prevention is the key to good dental hygiene and the preventative care philosophy is one we follow closely at Duffield Road Dental Care.

Regular visits to your dental hygienist are of key importance in adopting and preserving good dental hygiene. Our dental hygiene services are comprehensive and fully informative, covering the correct ways to brush your teeth, the most appropriate equipment to use e.g. electric tooth brushes and flossing, basic dietary information, information on fluoride treatments and tooth cleaning and polishing.

Both your dentist and hygienist play important roles in preventing oral problems such as gum disease and tooth decay. At your regular check-up we will be able to detect and problems, offer advice and provide suitable treatment. Check-up frequency can vary and differs in adults and children and for those who may have a higher risk of developing dental disease. For example, you may need to make more frequent visits if you smoke, have a high sugar diet or have already had a lot of dental treatment historically. At Duffield Road Dental Care, we treat each patient as an individual and provide bespoke treatment programmes as each case merits.

Gum disease:

One of the key tasks of the dental hygienist is to spot early signs of gum disease. Gum disease is still the most common cause of tooth loss in adults. However, if treated early, the effects of gum disease can be reversed.

Prevention of gum disease:

Regular visits to your dentist and dental hygienist are important to prevent the onset of gum disease. We will advise on the correct techniques for brushing and flossing, diet and check-up frequency. However, brushing and flossing alone will be unable to remove all traces of plaque because all teeth have small surface irregularities which are particularly difficult to clean. Our dental hygienists will remove these deposits using special “scale and polish” treatments to ensure all deposits and surface stains are removed from the teeth.

Preventative treatments:

Where appropriate we may make recommendations for preventative treatments e.g. fissure sealants, a hard plastic coating applied to the biting surfaces of the teeth and designed to prevent food and bacteria from entering small surface irregularities in the teeth and subsequent decay.

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