A dental prophylaxis is a cleaning procedure performed to thoroughly clean the teeth. Prophylaxis is an important dental treatment for halting the progression of periodontal disease and gingivitis.
No matter how good your oral hygiene is, there always will be some missed spots. This missed spot will start to cause gum infection at first. But after 6 months, it will start to affect bone and cause irreversible bone loss. Bone is the foundation of your teeth. When you slowly lose bone overtime, your tooth starts to move and eventually fall apart, and you might not be able to enjoy your food at age fifty or sixty. Your health will go down when you don't have good nutrition. The quality of life won't be there if you can't keep your teeth in a healthy condition.
This is a routine, preventative appointment. During this appointment, your dental hygienist will update your medical history to see if there have been any changes in your medical health. You may need to have x-rays such as Bite-wing x-rays to evaluate your caries risk. It is normally done yearly according to the regulation of American Dental Association (ADA) and the Food and Drug Administration. If you have excellent oral health and do dental visits regularly, your caries risk might be lower and we might recommend to take x-ray less frequently. Otherwise, for high caries risk patients, we might recommend x-ray to be taken more frequently to better monitor your oral condition. A thorough oral cancer screening will be done with visual, palpation and screening tools to make sure there are no abnormalities.
After the medical history update and possible x-rays, the dental hygienist will examine your gum tissue and conduct a periodontal probing. She will measure the depth of your gum tissue with a periodontal probe. Then a thorough dental cleaning will be followed with Ultrasonic and hands instruments to remove the plaque and tartar from your teeth and beneath your gumline. The hygienist will also polish your teeth to remove extrinsic (exterior) tooth stains and then will floss your teeth. Your hygienist will also check your teeth to determine if there are any areas of decay to bring to the dentist's attention.
In our practice, we are proud of our detailed recommendations. Our hygienist will always give very specific oral recommendations that are customized to your individual needs and adjusted according to your oral condition. In our office, we also integrate ozone oil in our prophylaxis treatment according to your individual needs. It has greatly reduced gingivitis and periodontitis.
