Dental Cleanings in Smyrna, GA
Anyone who’s ever had a dental cleaning knows that no one can get your mouth feeling as fresh as a dentist. At Atlanta Family Dentistry, we pride ourselves in providing thorough, gentle, and efficient dental cleanings for all of our patients. Read on to find out more about what’s included in a typical cleaning and exam appointment at our office.
Removing Buildup and Plaque
If you ever floss right after a snack or meal, you know that it doesn’t take much to get food trapped in your teeth. Even with the best brushing or flossing, some of this buildup ends up in places that can only be reached by a professional. Over time, the minerals in your saliva also cause some of that buildup to harden onto your teeth. This forms a crusty coating called tartar or calculus. At-home tools like a floss or a toothbrush or even more advanced tools like an electric toothbrush or water flosser simply cannot remove this stubborn buildup.
At your cleaning appointment, we use a variety of instruments and methods to remove every last bit. We will first use an ultrasonic instrument whose tip vibrates and sprays water to loosen up all of the hardened buildup on your teeth. We then go through with finer hand instruments to clean in between teeth and around the gums. These instruments are shaped differently to reach different sides of your teeth.
Finally, we floss and use a spinning polishing cup with a fluoride paste to remove surface stains and discoloration.
Simple and Deep Cleanings
What most people think of when they get a cleaning is what dentists consider a simple cleaning. If your bone is completely healthy and normal and your buildup is all above your gums, this is the kind of cleaning you will receive. Usually these are done twice a year, although for some patients such as those in braces or who tend to build up plaque more quickly, more frequent cleanings may be beneficial.
For many patients, however, especially adult patients who may not floss every day, a simple cleaning is not enough. If you’re not flossing at home, over time plaque and calculus collect under your gums. This is like if you go to the beach and get sand into a cut. If you just clean around the cut but never remove the foreign material from inside the cut, it will never heal. You may see redness, bleeding, swelling, and have sore gums.
These are signs that you need a deep cleaning. In a deep cleaning, or scaling and root planing, we get your gums numb and clean underneath the gums to help restore your gums to health.