How to save teeth and avoid treatment at our dentist in Plymouth?
When you are operating on stereotypes, it may seem weird to think of the dentist in Plymouth wanting to minimise treatment! But at Meavy Way Dental Practice, we really do, as our first and foremost priority is to help you maintain your teeth, intervening only when necessary and restoring them to their original health.
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The standard daily oral hygiene includes three minutes of brushing with flossing in session. It may sound arbitrary, but its goal is to control the build-up of bacteria in the mouth. Mouths are highly active ecosystems with thousands of different bacteria competing for space and nutrients, and once this load reaches a critical threshold, it starts to produce macro-structures like biofilms; the one we’re all familiar with is plaque.
Plaque takes approximately 24 hours to calcify into tartar, which is much harder to remove. Regular brushing and flossing can disrupt plaque development before it reaches the tartar stage. With nearly 40% of the tooth surface beyond the reach of a standard toothbrush, flossing is essential to stop tartar formation between teeth.
Working with and not against yourself
If you have not established a regular hygiene routine during your childhood, it can be difficult to adopt good habits later in life. The average habit takes three months to establish, which means you should be prepared to invest the time in the short term to develop a habit that then becomes an automatic part of the day.
When establishing routines, don’t expect 100% success from day one. There will be gaps and a stuttering start, but if you continue to work at it, you can form a habit and develop the skills of creating positive habits that will serve you well in many areas beyond dental care.
How our clinic can help
The common cause of tooth loss is decay. Decay occurs gradually when bacteria eat away at the enamel and eventually enter the dentin. Only when a nerve within the tooth is affected are symptoms noticed, by which time a filling would be necessary. During a check-up, early stages of decay can be noted, and if it is minor enough, their development can be prevented.
Tartar removal is best done in our clinic, as there is no effective way of removing tartar without damaging the underlining enamel at home. A scale-and-polish is a type of cleaning procedure focused on removing tartar; the bulk of the build-up is cut away using a dental drill, with the remainder abraded off. The tooth surfaces are polished, leaving a smooth surface that not only looks great but also stops future bacterial build-up and minimises the chance of cavities.
Joining our surgery
If you’re looking for a local dentist in Plymouth that considers your needs and is always progressing with their services to meet your expectations, please feel free to get in contact with us at Meavy Way Dental Practice. We run a patient-led dentist in Plymouth, using feedback to plan out our clinic and continue to develop, all the way from the layout of our waiting room to what new technologies need to be brought into the clinic.