Dental Hygienist Visits

While it is highly discouraged, and you should instead visit a dental hygienist it is possible to purchase hand scalers and other minor dental tools yourself from pharmacies.
This is considered dangerous to do because these are sharp, sensitive tools and a mistake can cause serious damage to your mouth.

Scaling is not a painful process, but the sensation of having your teeth scraped with a hand scaler can be unpleasant and uncomfortable.
Root planing is much the same. It will be unpleasant and uncomfortable for a bit of time during and after the procedure. Both of these procedures may also have anaesthetic administered if the discomfort is too much for you.

A dental hygienist visit does not need to be very long if your oral health is good. The worse your oral health the longer the visit will take as the cleaning will take up more time.
The visit can be as short as 20 minutes and up to 1 hour long.

A dental hygienist visit is similar to a dental check-up. In that, they will clean and polish your teeth, remove plaque, stain removal, provide education, and give you a better brighter smile.
The dental hygienist will conduct an oral examination and examine your teeth, and gums. They will also provide education on diet and how it affects your oral health, and proper brushing and flossing technique.
The dental hygienist will clean your teeth with a tool called a hand scaler which scrapes the plaque off of your teeth and then will polish your teeth with a rotating rubber ball which will remove additional debris and polish your teeth.

A dental hygienist visit, while covered under health care may still have a cost associated with it, depending on your coverage.  If you are PRSI registered in Ireland, you are eligible for a free annual check-up and cancer scan, or for 15 euro a scale and polish.  At Crean Dental our hygienist visits cost 70 euro.

When a dental hygienist is polishing your teeth and scaling your teeth it will remove many of the surface stains on your teeth. However, this polishing does not penetrate into the tooth enamel and removes the deeper stains that may be discolouring your teeth.

It is important to protect your oral health. Your teeth need to be taken care of and cleaned regularly. Even if you take good care of your teeth with regular brushing and flossing there may still be plaque under the gum line at the root of your teeth that requires a professional to clean.

Proper education is also important to learn, and a dental hygienist can provide this information. From proper oral health care technique to advise on diet and how to improve the quality and long term life of your teeth.

Reasons to see a dental hygienist include:

•     Education on proper oral care
•     Teeth cleaning for a better smile
•     Plaque removal and polishing
•     Teeth whitening
•     Long term prevention of decay

The difference between root planing and scaling is in which part of the tooth is having plaque scraped away from. Tooth scaling scrapes plaque away from the surface of the tooth that is visible. Root planing scapes and removes plaque from under the gun line towards the root of the tooth that is not visible and much harder to clean.

Hygienist Visits Offer

•     Brighter smile
•     Cleaner, healthier teeth
•     Clean your teeth for better long term health