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Dental Hygiene

Preventative Care | Professional Cleanings

Protecting your teeth and smile isn’t always convenient, but the investment in your health and self image is priceless. Preventative dental care goes beyond just brushing and flossing.  It benefits from the partnership of a trusted, compassionate and experienced dental team. Professional teeth cleaning not only helps to keep your teeth healthy, but your body healthy as well. If it has been a long time since your last professional cleaning, we may recommend a deep teeth cleaning procedure, also known as scaling and root planing, to help prevent or treat gingivitis and periodontal gum disease.

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Dental Hygiene Best Practices

Dr. Gillum recommends that you brush your teeth at least twice every day, or ideally after each meal or snack. Use a soft-bristled manual, electric or ultrasonic toothbrush. Hard-bristled toothbrushes can be too harsh on your teeth and gums. Flossing your teeth every day is as important or more so than brushing alone. Ironically flossing cleans more surface area of your teeth than brushing alone.

Flossing cleans the difficult to reach areas between the teeth where bacterial biofilms do the most harm to your gums and supporting bone. Flossing helps to remove plaque and food particles from spots your toothbrush cannot reach. If you want to live longer and maintain your normal physical capacity, flossing is one of the habits you must adopt and master.

Maintaining a balanced, whole food healthy diet. Avoiding foods that are processed, sugary or acidic can help to keep your smile in good health. Avoidance of HFCS or high fructose corn syrup is particularly important to optimal health. Following these basic steps can help to prevent tooth decay, periodontal disease (gum disease), and other dental problems.

Dental Methods for Cleaning Teeth

We recommend to have your teeth professionally cleaned at least every 6 months. For patients at risk for gum disease due to age, medical condition, tobacco use, rate of accumulation of hard deposits or personal oral hygiene practices, more frequent visits such as every 3 or 4 months may be suggested. Dr. Richard Gillum and his highly trained dental Hygienists will determine the frequency maintaining your health requires and let you decide which options you want to choose.

We understand that elimination and prevention of gum disease is an investment everyone should choose but that not everyone can financially afford at any given time. We will do whatever we can to build your trust and work within your budget to help you create and maintain optimal dental health. So much of your general health depends on a healthy mouth.

Our dental hygienist will remove plaque and tartar with professional instruments that will access the buildup above and particularly below the gum line. The hygienist has several methods at their disposal including an ultra sonic scaler as well as standard stainless steel hand instruments. Professional teeth cleaning, by an experienced and gentle dental hygienist, along with excellent oral hygiene is essential for preventing cavities, stain, tartar build-up, and gum disease.

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We will always recommend what is best for your health and allow you to choose the path that feels right for you!