Why Oral Hygiene Matters

What Is Plaque?

Plaque is a soft, sticky film of bacteria that forms on your teeth every day, within hours of brushing. You can feel it as a furry layer when you run your tongue over your teeth. The bacteria feed on the sugars in what you eat and drink and produce acid and toxins as they do. Left alone, plaque starts to harden into tartar, a crusty deposit that bonds to the tooth and can only be removed with professional instruments. Tartar's rough surface then collects more plaque, which is how a small problem at the gum line becomes a bigger one. Brushing and cleaning between your teeth every day is simply the business of removing plaque before it can do either.

What Poor Hygiene Leads To

• Tooth decay. Bacteria in plaque turn sugar into acid that dissolves enamel. Early on it's a chalky patch; left alone it becomes a cavity, then toothache, then a tooth that needs root canal treatment or removal
• Gum disease. Plaque along the gum line inflames the gums, which bleed and swell. If it's allowed to continue, the inflammation destroys the bone holding the teeth
• Bad breath that doesn't go away, from bacteria on the tongue, between the teeth and below the gum line
• Tooth loss. Advanced gum disease and untreated decay are the most common reasons adults lose teeth
• Stained, dull teeth, as plaque and tartar pick up colour from tea, coffee, wine and smoking
• Bigger bills. A hygiene visit costs a fraction of a filling, a root canal or an implant

Gum Health and Your Body

Research has linked gum disease with several wider health conditions. The strongest link is with diabetes, and it works both ways: diabetes makes gum disease more likely and more severe, and inflamed gums make blood sugar harder to control. Gum disease has also been linked with heart disease. In pregnancy, hormone changes make gums more likely to swell and bleed, so cleaning carefully matters even more. The explanation is thought to be inflammation: a mouth with chronic gum disease is a constant low-level source of it. Keeping your gums healthy is part of looking after your general health. If you have diabetes, are pregnant, or take medicines that affect your gums, tell us, and we'll suggest how often to come in.

What Should I Do Every Day?

• Brush twice a day for two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste, last thing at night and once more in the day, angling the bristles towards the gum line
• Spit out the excess, but don't rinse, so the fluoride keeps working on your teeth
• Clean between your teeth once a day with interdental brushes, or floss where the gaps are tight. This is the step that protects your gums most
• Cut down how often you have sugary food and drinks, and keep them to mealtimes. Each sugary snack starts another acid attack
• Drink water between meals, and avoid sipping anything sweet or fizzy through the day
• If you smoke, stopping is the single best thing you can do for your mouth
• Replace your toothbrush or brush head every three months

Our gum care guide goes through the technique for each of these.

Why See a Dental Therapist?

However well you brush, tartar builds up in the places you can't reach, and once it has formed, only professional cleaning removes it. Our dental therapists, Bronagh O'Dowd and Anisha Pariyarath, check your gums and measure for early signs of gum disease, remove tartar from above and just below the gum line, use air polishing to lift plaque and stain, and then show you exactly what to focus on at home and which interdental brushes fit your gaps. A hygiene visit is usually 30 minutes, or 60 for a deep clean. Gum disease is often painless in its early stages, so regular visits matter even when nothing hurts: it's the easiest way to catch problems while they're still small and cheap to fix.

Implants, Aligners and Bonding

Treatment that improves your smile depends on the hygiene around it. Implants need cleaner gums than natural teeth, because the bone around them has less defence against infection, and our implant guarantee depends on hygiene visits every three months. Invisalign aligners trap plaque against the teeth if they go in without brushing first. Composite bonding and veneers pick up stain at the gum line, and polishing at your hygiene visits is what keeps them looking new. Bronagh has a special interest in hygiene maintenance for implant, Invisalign and bonding patients, so the care you've invested in stays healthy as well as good-looking.

The Cost of Staying on Top

A 30-minute hygiene visit is £70, or £100 with air polishing, and a routine examination is £70.² Our dental plans bundle them: Plan A, at £24.10 a month, includes two examinations, two hygiene visits with Airflow and two small X-rays a year, and Plan B, at £40.16 a month, includes four hygiene visits, for people with gum disease, implants or anyone who needs more frequent care. Both include free emergency appointments and 10% off most private treatment. Set against the cost of a filling, a root canal or a replacement tooth, prevention is by far the cheaper habit.

Questions

This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.