Get to know our Hygiene Department!
What does a Hygienist do?
Dental Hygienists are specially trained in Oral Health and work alongside a dentist to deliver professional scale and cleans to ensure optimum oral health for all patients. Hygienists have a role in completing a thorough examination, looking at soft tissues and your teeth, and completing high quality preventative care to allow their patients to achieve best results.
Bec our lovely Hygienist at Dental 359 prides herself in ensuring her patients are comfortable and have a pleasant experience in her chair. She has a keen eye for detail and can help you improve your oral health by giving you information and suggestions on how your home care and regular professional scale and cleans can achieve great results.
Why are professional hygiene appointments so important?
Regular dental check-ups and professional scale and cleans are essential in preventing common dental issues such as tooth decay and gum disease. This is usually every six months, however in some cases scale and cleans may need to be more regular to gain control of gum problems. Dr Hooman Golestani will complete a check-up on all his patients yearly to ensure there are no dental problems going undetected. Using X-rays every 2 years allows the dental team to see in between teeth and under restorations to ensure they are sound, as they aren’t visible in the mouth.
Scale and clean appointments are completed in a gentle yet precise manner removing hard deposits of tartar from the teeth, which you can’t remove yourself at home. These deposits are full of bacteria that grow in the mouth and can result in harmful dental issues. Attending your regular hygiene appointments are a crucial step in maintaining a healthy oral environment.
How can I improve my home hygiene habits?
We believe that prevention of gum disease is better than cure and in the long term regular maintenance of your teeth and gums is more cost effective.
Becs tips to better oral health!
- Always brush your teeth at night – Is it very important to brush your teeth at night to remove all the bacteria that has accumulated during the day. Our salvia flow is reduced when we are asleep limiting its cleansing ability, this causes the bacteria to have a better environment to grow in, and therefore we want to remove it before it can!
- Brush for 2 minutes, 2 times a day – Doing a good brush is very important to remove all the bacteria from the mouth. Removing the plaque when it’s still soft help minimise the calculus build up that will form between scale and clean appointments. Angling your toothbrush towards the gum line on a 45 degree angle and brushing gentle circle motions will best remove plaque and germs from the teeth and gums.
- Floss once a day! – Flossing is just as important as brushing as it removes bacteria and debris from between the contacts of your teeth. This movement ensure the bugs don’t cause tooth decay. Flossing also reduces the amount of plaque and calculus between teeth and help lower gum inflammation. The more you floss the easier it gets and healthier your gums will feel. If you are having trouble holding the floss or just don’t like the feeling there are alternate interproximal cleaning options such as piksters or flossettes.
- Diet and hydration – Drinking plenty of water can have a dramatic impact on the health of your mouth and teeth. Saliva plays a significant role in cleansing our teeth reducing problems such as tooth decay and oral infections. Hydrated saliva ensure quality and quantity to play is role effectively. Our diet plays a large role in our oral health also. The frequency of snacking and types of foods we eat can increase the risk of dental issues. It is important to limit snacking on sugary, sticky foods and include hard fibrous fruits and vegetables.
Not sure if you need a professional scale and polish? That’s okay, book an obligation free consultation with our team. Give us a call on 1300 625 625 or fill out our form on our contact page.
