Do Your Teeth Need a Seasonal Spring Cleaning?

Dentist doing teeth cleaning on a patient

Today’s business world requires people to be ready to face any challenge regardless of how hectic their schedule. This includes making time to care for your health. One of the primary ways you should care for your health is by having a regular dental check-up, which includes regular dental prophylaxis or dental cleaning.

You may be asking yourself, though, how often do you need to have dental cleaning? It depends on your age and other personal circumstances. Anyone above 11 years old would normally need to get a dental prophylaxis every four to six months.  For children 10 years old and below, they would need to get their teeth cleaned every two months.

The State of Your Dental Health

Small children are usually fond of eating sweets, such as candies and chocolates. But they are not responsible enough to remember to brush and floss their teeth after every meal regularly. Children would need to get regular dental checkups more often than adults, not only to check their dental health, but also to check the growth of their teeth. Cleaning makes it possible for children to get used to the dentist’s chair, and educates them on the importance of dental health.

But if they wear braces or retainers, though, would have to get dental cleaning as often as every two months. Braces and retainers could leave a lot of food debris, which increases the risk of plaque, bad breath and tooth decay. In Utah, orthodontists in Taylorsville and dentists in Salt Lake City explain that evryone should seek their advice on how often you need to have dental prophylaxis if you are wearing braces or retainers. But it is most likely that your dentist will give you a list of foods to avoid, as well as how often you should adjust your braces and have them cleaned too.

The Length of Dental Cleaning

Dentist chekcking the patient's teeth

Dental prophylaxis could take thirty minutes to an hour if done in a dentist’s clinic. Dentists apply fluoride on children’s teeth after getting their cleaning procedure because they are usually not mindful in taking extra care of their oral health and teeth. Dentists advise the parents to leave the fluoride for at least an hour before they allow their children to eat and drink. For adults, dentists remind them to flos regularly and refrain from eating or drinking food that could stain teeth, such as coffee, tea or soda. But if you find that you need to drink these things, your dentist would probably recommend a drink of water after taking any of these drinks.

The treatment also prevents gingivitis and other gum problems. It also maximizes the chances of detecting and diagnosing dental problems early. Adding scaling as part of the treatment cleans certain areas of your mouth and teeth that brushing and flossing cannot remove. Dental prophylaxis does not cost a lot of money, but it does need discipline and a regular reminder. Even if you may think that it is not that crucial to be done regularly, it is always better to have it done by your dentist.

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