The Development And Removal Of Dental Plaque
One of the reasons people need regular dental checkups is to get rid of plaque buildups on the teeth that regular brushing can't reach. Here is a brief overview of how plaque forms and what the dentist can do to remove it:
How it Forms
Everyone has bacteria in their mouth. Most of the time they don't do any harm. In a typical healthy person, the bacteria interact with the saliva and proteins in the mouth to form a thin layer of material that envelopes the teeth. When you eat, small food particles interact with the saliva in your mouth and the acids produced by the bacteria to form a material known as plaque.
The plaque doesn't cause any serious long as you maintain your oral hygiene routine, which is basically brushing and flossing daily. Those actions are enough to get rid of the plaque. Problems start to develop if your mouth isn't exactly healthy. For example, your gums don't fit tightly around your teeth, the plaque will get into the spaces between the gums and teeth. Such pockets of plaque may be difficult to remove with regular and flossing brushing alone.
If you don't attend to the plaque, it will continue to build up and deepen the pockets between the gums and teeth. This will allow more plaque to build up on your teeth and cause even more severe gum problems. In a worst-case scenario, you may even lose your teeth due to the condition.
The Removal
The removal of plaque is a dental treatment process known as scaling. The process involves the removal of plaque on your teeth, after which the affected areas may be treated to get rid of the remaining bacteria. There are two major techniques for dental scaling:
Using a Dental Scaler
In this case, your dentist uses a mechanical instrument, called a dental scaler, to scrape hardened plaque off your teeth. The scaler has a pointed end that allows it to access areas under your gum line that the thick toothbrush doesn't usually access.
Using an Ultrasonic Instrument
The dentist can also use an ultrasonic instrument, which produces high-frequency sounds, to get rid of the plaque. The ultrasonic instrument makes use of a vibrating metal tip, forceful water, and high-frequency sound waves to chip away at your hardened plaque.
Therefore, if you haven't been to the dentist for a long time, now is the time to do it. get rid of that plaque before it causes dangerous gum disease and possible tooth loss. Contact a dental office like Bradley T Piotrowski DDS MSD LLC for more information and assistance.