Dental plaque is the enemy of a great feeling mouth, and the only way to get rid of all of it is to come in for a regular clean and polish with our dental hygienist. We recommend that everyone has a clean and polish twice a year and often people book a cleaning session alongside their bi-annual check-up with us at Amsel & Wilkins in Banbury.

Some people need to have a clean and polish more often.

Pregnancy

If you are pregnant, the elevated hormones associated with pregnancy mean that dental plaque proliferates more quickly and you can get something called pregnancy gum disease. Gum disease is caused by acids from plaque attacking gum tissue, which becomes sore and inflamed and can start to pull away from the teeth. Then the plaque can get under the gums and start to corrode the tooth roots and the bone holding your teeth in place. Your body is under enough strain as it is without your teeth being affected, so it really is worth coming in for an extra clean and polish while you are waiting for baby to arrive.

Smoking

If you are a smoker, you will know that it doesn’t take long after a clean and polish for the stains to start building up again on your teeth. But, alongside that, did you know that you are at twice the risk of gum disease as a non-smoker?

This is because smokers seem to produce more plaque than non-smokers. However, people who smoke may not notice that they have gum disease because the smoke causes their gums to be thin and pale and not red and swollen as people expect the early symptoms of gum disease to be. Lack of oxygen in the blood means that infected gum tissue does not heal so quickly. All good reasons to come more often for a clean-up, and you can also ask for help with smoking cessation.

Others at risk?

Other people who are more at risk of gum disease include those with type 1 or 2 diabetes, people who suffer from stress, people who clench or grind their teeth, people with obesity and diseases associated with inflammation, such as heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

The root cause of almost every dental problem is plaque. Keep on the top of the build-up of plaque in your mouth and you can hang onto your smile. Let plaque build up unchecked and before too long, you will be looking at treatments for bad breath, tooth decay and gum disease. It’s not fun.

You can’t stop plaque starting to build up in your mouth. It just does. Plaque is the dental profession’s name for the millions of harmless bacteria that feed on sugars in your mouth and then proliferate to form a sticky film over your teeth.

They don’t feel great and after a few days, if left undisturbed, the sticky film hardens into tartar. Tartar doesn’t look good, but the real problem is that these bacteria give off acids. The acids are corrosive, like all acids, and they can create holes in your tooth enamel, through which infection and decay can get in. The acids also inflame and irritate the gums, as acids would, and lead to gum disease, eventually getting under the gums to corrode the jawbone and tooth roots. The end result for both issues is tooth loss.

Keeping these 2 issues at bay is why you need to brush and floss twice a day. But, even if you do that religiously, you may still need to come in for a hygienist’s clean and polish in Banbury twice a year.

What the hygienist does

Our hygienists will take a good look at your teeth and use special tools and pastes to remove any plaque and tartar that are building up in hard-to-reach places. These tend to be around the gumline and between the teeth. Once all the plaque has been removed, they will also work on any stains that have built up on the surface of the teeth.

They will finish off by polishing the teeth so that the surfaces are not so easy for plaque to settle on.

Come in twice a year

We recommend a clean and polish every 6 months, or more if you have diabetes, are a smoker or are pregnant, or have another medical condition that affects the build up of plaque.