Professional teeth cleaning: gentle yet effective!

A visit with the dental hygienist is generally a positive experience for patients – and therefore offers an interesting means of promoting patient loyalty to your practice. The objective of professional teeth cleaning is to remove stains and plaque from teeth, restorations and tooth replacements – and of course to keep gums healthy for optimum pink-white esthetics.

Read this blog post on what you can do to clean the teeth of your patients gently yet effectively.

Tip 1: Treat sensitive areas with care

Not only strong and resistant dental enamel needs to be cleaned. In cases, where the more delicate dentin tooth structure is exposed, this also requires cleaning attention. Moreover, sensitive restorative materials and/or prosthetic restorations need to be taken into consideration if they are present. In addition, the gums and periimplant tissue must be treated with due care.

Tip 2: Maximize accessibility and visibility of the treatment field

It is easier to treat the patient when the working field is easy to see and reach. A flexible lip and cheek retractor (e.g. OptraGate) will maximize visibility and accessibility. In addition, it helps the patients to keep their mouth open. As a result, it speeds up the procedure and makes it more relaxed for everyone involved.

Tip 3: Select the appropriate prophy paste

Choose a prophy paste system which will allow you to clean natural, restored and replaced teeth according to their individual requirements. This type of system should include pastes of different grit sizes to accommodate different needs.

Tip: The different RDA values serve as a guide to the abrasive effect of a paste: e.g. 7, 36 and 83 in the Proxyt prophy system. These particular pastes contain xylitol and fluoride. The product range also includes a fluoride-free, unflavoured paste with an RDA value of 36.

The removal of tough stains and plaque requires a paste with a high RDA value, in other words, with intensive cleaning action. This is provided by the abrasive particles, such as pumice, contained in the paste. After this treatment, the teeth are polished with a pumice-free product (Proxyt with RDA 7). This paste on its own is adequate for removing light stains and plaque. A lightly abrasive paste with a low RDA value should be used to clean exposed tooth necks.

The described procedure prevents unnecessary removal and/or undesired roughening of the tooth structure. After all, the aim is to obtain smooth surfaces that hinder the accumulation of bacterial biofilms and show resistance to staining and a more permanent shine.

Tip 4: Use a soft prophy cup or brush attachments

Choose a soft prophy cup or brush for the rotary instruments to protect the gums and periimplant tissue, since these attachments are gentler. If extremely gentle treatment is required, we recommend using a soft rubber cup.

Download now: Special Feature “Effects of prophy pastes on composite resin surfaces”

OptraGate® and Proxyt® are registered trademarks of Ivoclar Vivadent AG. The availability of certain products may differ from country to country.