Our Dental Hygienist

More teeth are lost through gum disease than anything else. Healthy gums support healthy teeth so the way to ensure you keep your teeth is to have regular visits to your dental hygienist.

What is a dental hygienist?

Hygienists are trained in Dental Teaching Hospitals to treat and prevent gum disease and decay.

At Quay Side Dental Practice our hygienists work clinically in the mouth and with patients to give them the techniques and knowledge to keep their mouths healthy. The hygienists work along side the dentists to provide oral health care and advice tailored to patients individual requirements. This individual programme includes the latest brushing techniques with electric toothbrushes and small brushes that fit between your teeth and advice on diet.

Our hygienists carefully and gently remove the hard tartar (calculus) and stains that can build up on teeth. They polish teeth to make them whiter and brighter.

We have a Confidential Breath Test with which the hygienists can assess if you have a problem from bad breath. This is followed by gentle and careful treatment to eliminate the problem.

A clean and fresh mouth gives you a great smile. Your teeth and eyes are the first thing people notice about you and you do not have a second chance to make a first impression.

Our hygienists also work with children to teach them good tooth brushing techniques to prevent gum disease and tooth decay. The hygienists seal the grooves in the second teeth as these are the areas that decay usually starts.

What causes gum disease?

Fortunately we now understand perfectly clearly that the main cause of all dental disease (decay and gum disease) is not food remains, but a fine film of live bacteria that grows constantly on tooth and gum surfaces called dental plaque.

This build-up occurs largely independently of food intake, but is accelerated by sugar. Everyone has these bacteria, but some people are more susceptible to their action than others. On top of this there are a number of factors that can increase your susceptibility to gum disease. These include hormone imbalance (puberty, pregnancy and menopause), diabetes, the side effects of some drugs, stress and finally smoking.

Control of plaque growth is the essential basis for all dental treatment.

On a more serious note, as has been reported in the press recently, a link has been found between gum disease and heart disease following a clinical trial looking at similarities amongst patient with coronary thrombosis. There does now seem to be a connection between some of the bacteria that cause gum disease and heart disease.

Your visit to the hygienist

During your visit the hygienist will check all areas of your mouth and note the extent of any gum bleeding and build up of plaque. In addition any deepening of the gum crevice around the teeth will be measured. This is used to check later to make sure that the treatment is working.

The hygienist will carefully and gently remove the tartar from around your teeth. If this is found to sensitive the hygienist will place some local anaesthetic in the area to make it totally comfortable.

Your treatment may include some special drugs placed around the necks of the teeth to help the healing.

How often do I go?

The bacteria that cause gum disease are ever present so it is important to visit the hygienist regularly. At the end of your treatment the dentist or hygienist will advise you how often to return to keep your gums and teeth healthy.