Teeth Cleaning

What Is a Professional Teeth Cleaning?

A professional dental cleaning, also called a prophylaxis, is a treatment that thoroughly removes all plaque and hardened plaque from your teeth and just below the gum line.

Hardened plaque is a substance called calculus or tartar. It is a hard, crusty substance that can only be removed professionally.

This treatment is performed by our dental hygienist, who is extremely gentle and experienced in routine dental cleanings.

Why Is a Professional Dental Cleaning Important?

Regular professional dental cleanings are a critical part of any preventive dental care plan. Plaque and tartar contain harmful bacteria that produce toxins and acids, increasing the risk of gum disease and tooth decay.

Protecting Your Oral Health

Removing plaque and tartar helps prevent cavities and gum inflammation, enabling you to maintain better oral health and to avoid the need for more advanced treatments. At the same time, maintaining good dental health helps protect your overall health, which is crucially important.

Protecting Your General Health

Healthy teeth and gums help reduce your risk of developing serious health problems like dementia, stroke, heart disease, and respiratory illnesses, or can help prevent these conditions from worsening. Over time, this preventive dental care treatment can help keep dental and medical bills lower.

Freshening Your Breath and Your Smile

Treatment can help improve your breath and will leave your teeth looking and feeling brighter and smoother. It is an excellent way to quickly freshen your smile while protecting dental health.

How Often Should I Have My Teeth Cleaned?

Generally, most people benefit from a teeth cleaning appointment every six months. However, everyone is different, and when you first visit Dental Pearl, we carefully assess your current dental health and dental and medical history to determine the right routine for your needs.

If you have ongoing gum issues, we may recommend more frequent visits to help you maintain oral health more effectively. Some people with certain medical conditions may be at greater risk of developing gum disease and may also benefit from more frequent dental cleanings.

If we determine you will benefit from more frequent cleanings, we will explain why, so you understand how this treatment will help you maintain better dental health.

Signs You Are Due for a Dental Cleaning

Various signs can indicate that you could do with having your teeth cleaned professionally, including:

• Gums that bleed during brushing or flossing or at other times.
• Persistent bad breath.
• Tartar buildup around your gum line, which can look yellow and crusty.
• Tooth sensitivity.

It is almost certainly time to book a dental cleaning if it has been more than six months since your last prophylaxis.

Patient Experience

What to Expect during Your Teeth Cleaning

Several stages are involved in this preventive dental care treatment.

1. Oral Examination

Before we begin, our hygienist will ask you if there have been any changes to your medical health or if you have any dental concerns. We must keep your medical records up to date, as certain medications or health issues may affect your preventive dental care plan or proposed treatments.

If you are due to have digital dental X-rays, our hygienist can take them. Most people do not need them at every appointment, but they are a valuable diagnostic tool that allows us to assess areas hidden from view, such as the contact areas between your teeth.

2. Dental Scaling

Ultrasonic tools are used to loosen tartar from around your teeth. Treatment is combined with a regular spray of water to help wash away loose debris.

The remaining tartar is manually scaled using a special hand tool. Our hygienist will carefully remove all tartar from between your teeth, particularly around your gum line and just below.

3. Flossing and Polishing

Once your teeth are scaled, the hygienist will carefully floss between each of them to ensure all the tartar is removed thoroughly. Next, a special polishing paste is applied to polish your teeth gently.

The polishing paste helps remove some surface stains from treated tooth surfaces and smooths them. The smoother surfaces make it harder for new plaque and tartar to build up.

4. Fluoride Treatment

You may not require fluoride, but if so, we can apply professional-strength fluoride in the form of varnish, foam, or mouth rinse to tooth surfaces. It helps harden your teeth, providing extra protection against tooth decay. A professional fluoride treatment is fast, affordable, and non-invasive.

5. Oral Hygiene Advice

Not everyone will need this, but it can be useful if you are missing certain areas when you brush and floss, or if you would like some tips on improving your oral care routine.

Feel free to ask us anything you like about your oral care, and we will be delighted to help you. Our hygienist can work with you to devise a routine that is easy for you to follow.

A great oral care routine should take no more than 10 minutes a day.

Teeth Cleaning vs Deep Teeth Cleaning

A standard teeth cleaning treatment is a routine preventive procedure. It is ideal for patients with generally healthy teeth and gums and is designed to help maintain good dental health.

A deep teeth cleaning is a little different. This treatment, also called scaling and root planing, is used to treat mild to moderate gum or periodontal disease. In this situation, some gum recession has occurred, exposing the tooth roots.

A deep dental cleaning cleans teeth in a similar way to an ordinary teeth cleaning treatment, but is also designed to remove plaque and tartar from exposed tooth roots. After scaling teeth, these exposed tooth roots are also scaled and then planed to smooth them.

Treatment helps remove the infectious bacteria causing periodontal disease, enabling healthier, stronger gums afterward.

What to Expect after Your Professional Teeth Cleaning

After your teeth cleaning, you will probably notice your teeth look slightly brighter and that they feel beautifully smooth and clean. There is nothing quite like that sensation.

When you clean your teeth at night, you may notice your gums feel a bit more sensitive, but this feeling should disappear by the next day.

Oral health care begins with regular teeth cleaning. At Dental Pearl Miami, our comprehensive preventive care is designed to protect your natural smile and maintain your overall health. Schedule an appointment with our experienced dental team in North Miami Beach, FL, today!

Frequently Asked Questions