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.