Oral Hygiene & Health Advice

The key to preventing dental problems is practicing good oral hygiene. At The Wimbledon Dentist we can show you how and help you to maintain healthy teeth and gums.

Plaque and tartar are the main causes of gum disease and tooth decay. Regular teeth brushing and cleaning between your teeth will help to keep your teeth and gums healthy and prevent the build up of plaque and deposits. At The Wimbledon Dentist we recommend visiting our practice for regular check-ups to assess your oral health.

Our oral hygiene programme offers more than just a clean and polish for your teeth. We will remove any plaque and check your gums thoroughly and instruct you on how best to keep your teeth, gums and mouth in good health. Our hygienists will also provide dietary advice to help reduce the development of dental decay such as limiting sugary drinks and foods.

Hygiene Treatments

No two people clean their teeth the same way, and we have responded to our patients' feedback to try to offer a range of Hygienist Options that move away from the one-size-fits-all approach

• Standard Hygiene Appointment: this lasts for 30 minutes and includes a full-mouth clean and polish with the hygienist
• Hygiene Plus Appointment: this session lasts for 45 minutes and can be the right one for you if you need a "deeper clean", or have lots of staining to remove, require some numbing gel or a little local anaesthetic in certain areas to make you comfortable, or you haven't had a cleaning for a while.
• Airflow Teeth Polishing:
  • What is Airflow polishing?

    Airflow polishing is a painless effective way of removing some of the more tenacious teeth staining caused by coffee, tea, red wine, smoking and some mouthwashes. These stains can build up over time depending on the regularity of the habit and the patients’ oral hygiene regime.

    Although tooth enamel is extremely robust and highly glazed, some teeth may have microscopic pits and ridges as a result of ‘wear and tear’. This can be a result of dietary acid erosion, dental decay, trauma or bruxism (teeth grinding), creating areas in which stains can attach.

    The airflow polish treatment is done by our dental hygienist. It is entirely painless and involves carefully spraying the teeth with a fine jet of compressed air, water and bicarbonate powder particles which gently removes the stains. It can be used safely on dental restorations such as fillings, crowns, bridges and implants.

    Once completed, the teeth are restored to their original lustre with a sparkly appearance and a smooth, glossy feel.

    Patients tell us that Airflow Polish Treatment is especially useful where certain teeth might be too sensitive for ultrasonic scaling or conventional manual instrumentation. It is also an excellent way of preparing the teeth for teeth whitening, maintenance of the teeth after teeth whitening or as a stand-alone treatment in its own right if teeth whitening is not required.

    Also, it is a very useful method of cleaning around orthodontic wires and brackets making it an excellent way of maintaining the appearance while wearing braces for both children and adults alike.

    Overall our patients find it a very comfortable experience, as there is no pressure applied, no heat generated and some interesting flavours of powder available! Please speak to our friendly hygienists about air polishing as part of your oral health care programme.

• Perio Plus Appointment: For those battling or actively managing their Periodontal Disease, this lasts 60 minutes.

And for the little patients:

• Depending on if the patient is a younger child, pre-teen, or teen, the hygienist will give the thorough gentle cleaning and polishing and crucial oral hygiene instruction that is relevant to them.
• We use plaque staining agents to highlight to them areas that they are missing when cleaning themselves at home, and demonstrate how to brush and floss well. They then get a simple and gentle polish afterwards.
• fluoride can be applied if requested or deemed necessary.

Why is oral hygiene important?

Gum disease not only affects the possibility of losing your teeth, poor oral hygiene and dental disease can contribute to other health issues such as heart disease and diabetes. Therefore ensuring our patients practice good oral hygiene from an early age and constantly throughout their lives will lessen the chances of serious dental problems in future. Prevention is always better than cure.

Receding and bleeding gums?

Gum disease otherwise know as periodontal disease can be prevented and we carry out thorough oral hygiene examinations which identifies the first signs of decay and periodontal disease before they can cause significant harm.

Regular Oral Hygiene Check-ups

Monitoring your dental health by our hygienists will help minimise potential future problems so we strongly recommend all patients book oral hygiene appointments regularly throughout the year. If you would like to book a hygiene visit at The Wimbledon Dentist then please call 020 8544 0112.