Professional Dental Cleanings
 One of the best gifts you could give yourself is routine dental cleanings. The fact is, over half of all American adults have some degree of periodontal disease, an infection that attacks the gum tissue in your mouth. One of the leading causes of gum disease is poor oral hygiene and preventing it could be as simple as introducing a good brushing and flossing regimen at home and making sure you stay on top of your appointments for dental cleanings in our office. We here at Sharokina Eshaghi, DMD highly recommend that all of our patients come in twice a year for a checkup and a cleaning to help keep their mouth healthy and their smile bright.
Why are Regular Dental Cleanings So Important?
Dental cleanings are an essential part of maintaining good oral health. While it is very important that you brush and floss your teeth at home, it is no replacement for regular checkups and cleanings with us. However, there is much misunderstanding about what occurs during a dental cleaning, and some of our patients have admitted to us that they are a little bit nervous about getting this incredibly easy and gentle procedure done. We would like to clear up some of that confusion by explaining this procedure to you further.
The first thing we will do during your cleaning is to take a good look inside your mouth. We will check your gum pockets (that is the part where we prod your gumline and call out numbers) and get a good idea about the state of your general oral health. If we determine that we are okay to proceed, then we will begin your cleaning by grabbing our dental scaler. Our dental scaler is a small metal hook that is used to remove all of the hardened tartar (calculus) from your teeth. It does make a mild scraping sound, but it does not hurt. The more buildup that you have, the longer the scaling will take.
Next, we will brush your teeth for you. Typically, we will use an electronic toothbrush for this portion of your cleaning. Instead of giving you a normal brushing, as you would do at home, we will use a special type of gritty toothpaste on your teeth. This helps polish your teeth and keep them smooth and healthy. We do not recommend using gritty toothpaste at home, as it can start to wear away at your enamel if you use it too often. Twice a year at our office should be sufficient.
After we brush your teeth, we will then floss them for you. Some of our patients do notice some blood in their mouth during the flossing part of their dental cleaning. While this may seem unpleasant, the secret to preventing bloody gums when flossing is to floss more often! When we see blood in your mouth when we floss, it tells us that you do not floss enough at home. Finally, we will offer you a fluoride rinse to help strengthen and remineralize your teeth.
We Can Help
Keeping your mouth healthy requires teamwork. You need to brush and floss at home, and you also must visit us every six months for a cleaning. If it has been longer than six months since your last checkup with us, or you would like to learn more about dental cleanings, please give us here at Sharokina Eshaghi, DMD a call at (209) 526-4884 today!
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