Fluoride helps to desensitise, remineralise and strengthen tooth surfaces and the best time to do this is after all the plaque and calculus have been removed at your regular scale and clean appointment. Fluoride applied to the tooth surfaces becomes incorporated into the tooth and makes the teeth more acid resistant to help prevent dental decay.
Teeth generally look whiter after a scale and clean as all of the plaque, calculus and stain have been removed. Although the underlying tooth colour will not be affected at a scale and clean, the appearance will usually be whiter.
Some fissures (grooves) in the chewing surfaces of teeth are very difficult to clean. Sugary foods and plaque stick in the fissures and may cause decay. To help protect the areas, dental sealants may be placed over the grooves.
During each visit at MDOR we will assess your (or your child’s) risk of decay. If teeth are considered to be at risk, dental sealants may be recommended for tooth surfaces that are most likely to develop cavities. At MDOR we use the latest and most effective medicaments to effectively seal the teeth most at risk of having tooth decay.
Brushing your child’s teeth daily Is important to remove plaque, which is a soft sticky, almost invisible layer of bacteria that forms on teeth every day. Most dental problems begin with plaque, these two main dental diseases are – tooth decay and gum disease.
Start cleaning teeth as soon as they appear in your child’s mouth (approximately 6 months of age) at first a soft damp cloth may be used to gently wipe the teeth around the gum line. When a few teeth are present, the cloth should be replaced by a tooth brush with a small head and soft bristles.
For children 18 months to 5 years use a small pea-size amount of low fluoride toothpaste and for children 6 years of age, a normal strength toothpaste. The fluoride in toothpaste will help prevent tooth decay. Children should spit, not swallow and not rinse after brushing.
Children should be encouraged to brush their own teeth. However they do not have the skills to use a toothbrush correctly until about 7 or 8 years of age. Therefore, Brush your child’s teeth twice a day, in the morning after breakfast and before going to bed at night.
X-rays are an essential part of any dental care treatment plan. They are diagnostic, but they can also be preventative, by helping a dentist diagnose potential oral care issues in a patient’s mouth before they become a major problem. An x-ray is a type of energy that passes through soft tissues and is absorbed by dense tissue. Teeth and bone are very dense, so they absorb X-rays, while X-rays pass more easily through gums and cheeks.
These X-rays allow dentists to:
- Find cavities
- Look at the tooth roots
- Check the health of the bony area around the tooth
- Determine if periodontal disease is an oral care issue
- See the status of developing teeth
- Otherwise, monitor good tooth health through prevention