Professional Teeth Cleaning Tracy, CA
When it comes to keeping your teeth healthy, prevention is the best medicine. Once your teeth become decayed, chipped, cracked or otherwise damaged, they can’t be restored to their natural state – only treated and repaired. That’s why the best thing you can do is keep your teeth healthy – and getting a professional teeth cleaning is a great way to do that.
Keep in mind that as recently as 50 years ago, dentists working in the armed forces noted that most people have terrible dental hygiene. By that point, most people were brushing and flossing their teeth – but not getting them cleaned by a professional regularly. It just wasn’t common yet.
Things have changed since then. Today, we know that some plaque is nigh impossible to clean at home. A dentist has tools and medicines that a regular person doesn’t – like the fluoride treatment they use on to keep a patient’s teeth healthy long after their last visit.
What does a professional cleaning consist of?
During a professional cleaning, a dentist will deep-clean your teeth, removing stubborn plaque and tartar that’s become calcified and stuck. He or she will also check your mouth for signs of tooth decay, oral cancer and overall health to make sure you don’t need any other medical services. The whole process is usually over in 20 minutes.
How often should I get my teeth cleaned?
Dentists recommend getting professional cleanings at least twice a year. However, if you’re at a low risk of dental decay – e.g. you have dentures, implants or healthy teeth – you can come in as rarely as once a year. One thing you should not do is rely on your opinion to decide whether it’s time for a cleaning or not.
Digital X-Rays
Doing our part to go green
Digital radiography is one of the most important new advances that dentistry has seen in quite some time. The ability to reduce the exposure of radiation and attain diagnostic proficiency is phenominal. Before a teeth cleaning procedure starts, our staff uses a digital X-ray machine to produce images of your teeth.
Advantages of digital:
- rapid acquisition time
- image enhancement
- low radiation -digital radiography can reduce radiation exposure levels by up to as much as 90%
- ability to capture a diagnostic image in seconds and display the magnified image to a patient
- provide both pre- and post-treatment images – which can be stored in patient’s record for easy retrieval years later.
- reduces the average treatment time
- easily transmitted to insurance companies – helps claims get paid faster
- digital x-rays are environmentally friendly. They eliminate the need for film and film processing chemicals.