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The job of a Dental Hygienist
The job of a Dental Hygienist is a rewarding one. People think it involves a ‘scrape and polish’ but that is a small amount as to what the my job actually entails.
I regularly give oral hygiene and toothbrushing instruction…it’s amazing how different peoples’ perception of what a good toothbrushing routine should consist of! some people brush once , twice a day, after every meal…I once had a patient who said he didn’t brush very often at all and had only used a couple of tubes of toothpaste in his whole life! The significance of this is plaque deposits are left on a persons’ teeth ,they go hard or mineralise into a hard deposit called calculus, this irritates the gum and causes inflammation which in turn speeds up recession (the going long in the tooth process) which is generally considered inevitable as we get older, can be prevented with excellent hygiene!
What can be done if we are already ‘long in the tooth?’…. It’s never too late to make a difference, you may need some deeper scaling to remove those irritating deposits of calculus..Improved toothbrushing and regular interdental cleaning mean the life of the teeth can be dramatically extended.
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