How procedure works ?

Professional dental cleaning can be performed either by a dentist or a dental hygienist. The procedure involves the use of three cleaning techniques:

• Tooth scaling – Scaling is the process of removing the films or layers of substances that accumulate on the teeth surface.
• Tooth polishing – Performed after scaling, polishing is the process of making the surface of the teeth smoother.
• Debridement – Debridement is used when too much tartar has accumulated and scaling cannot remove them. Using this technique, the dental hygienist will use a variety of dental instruments to carefully loosen the deposits and remove them from the teeth.

Dentists and hygienists usually use the following tools or instruments when performing dental cleaning:

• Ultrasonic instruments – These are instruments that use tickling vibrations to gently but effectively loosen up large pieces of tartar. At the same time, it sprays a cool mist of water to wash away the small debris as they come loose. Once the larger pieces have been removed, dentists usually change from ultrasonic instruments to finer hand tools.
• Scalers or curettes – These are smaller hand tools that dentists use to manually remove smaller pieces of deposits. They are very effective in scraping off tartar and plaque.
• Polisher – This is a hand tool with a soft rubber tip that slowly moves to polish the tooth surface.
• Fluoride – Dentists may also apply some fluoride during a teeth cleaning. Available in foam or gel, fluoride helps to strengthen the teeth to compensate for the negative effects that plaque and tartar had on them. If fluoride is applied, the patient will be advised not to eat, drink, or rinse the mouth for at least 30 minutes after application.