What To Expect At Your Next Dental Cleaning

For those who haven’t been to the dentist in awhile or for those new patients who have just joined us here at our Revere dental office, we want to make sure you feel comfortable at every routine dental appointment. Ensuring your comfort and trust comes with being transparent about our procedures here at All Pro Dental — and that includes a thorough rundown of what you can expect at your next dental cleaning.

What Happens at a Professional Dental Cleaning

After laying down on our comfortable dental chairs, you can expect an initial tooth and oral cavity inspection. Your dentist will visually look for any abnormalities such as cavities, signs of tooth grinding, swollen or red gums which could be gum disease, and other possible red flags. We’ll use a mirror to really make sure every inch of your teeth and gums are inspected. If your hygienist notices anything out of sorts, they will call in our lead dentist to take a second look and gather a second opinion. At this stage in your appointment, we welcome you to tell us anything that may be troubling you. It is always better to be safe than sorry — so don’t hesitate to speak up about your oral health.

Once your initial oral inspection is over, we’ll head over to our high powered digital x-ray machine. Dental x-rays are important as they can sometimes uncover issues that can’t be seen by even the most trained eyes. For instance, cavities between the teeth will be revealed, as well as wisdom teeth, through dental x-rays. Other oral issues our x-ray can detect include:

• Bone loss
• Tooth decay
• Gum disease
• Teeth movement
• Tumors
• Other abnormalities

Next we’ll head back to the chair for a thorough teeth cleaning! The removal of built up plaque and tartar is crucial to preventing gum disease and cavities in the future. We’re use a scaler to remove the plaque and tartar on the surface of your teeth as well as around the gum line. Tartar unfortunately can’t be removed with simple brushing and flossing of your teeth at home; it must be removed by a trained dental hygienist. Depending on whether you have tartar built up or not, this process could take anywhere from 10 to 20  minutes.

After the removal of plaque and tartar, our Revere dental hygienists will perform a power polishing cycle next. This tooth polish is slightly abrasive in order to remove surface stains and you have plenty of flavor options to choose from. This entire step takes around 10 minutes and will leave your tooth feeling very smooth and looking shiny.

The final steps include professional flossing and a fluoride treatment. Our dental hygienists will be able to remove any plaque or tartar that may still be remaining within your teeth. At this point we can even show you how to properly floss your teeth so you can perform this step at home. Fluoride treatment is the last step in our professional dental cleaning process. This foam or gel is applied to your teeth using a tray or it may be an oral rinse that you need to swirl around in your mouth for 30 seconds to a minute.

After one last inspection and a question and answer period designed to help provide some more insight for our patients about their oral health, we’ll send you on your way! Overall, your appointment will only take between 45 minutes to an hour depending on your needs. Schedule an appointment online with All Pro Dental today.