A good scale and polish is what we all need every six months or so. Regular scaling and polishing by a dentist or hygienist help keep your teeth and gums healthy by making it easier for you to keep your teeth clean at home. You should see and feel the difference.

Scaling and Polishing involves removing plaque and tartar deposits that have built up on teeth over time. Plaque is a soft, sticky substance that builds up on your teeth. It is mostly made up of bacteria. The bacteria in plaque feed on sugar from food and drink, producing acids as a waste product. The acids attack the teeth by dissolving the minerals in the tooth surface. If this happens too often teeth will decay as a result.

Tartar (also known as calculus and scale) formed by hardened plaque, helps plaque to gather and makes it harder to remove when you brush. And if plaque is allowed to build up, the bacteria in it can cause gum disease, making your gums sore and infected. You can’t remove tartar just by brushing your teeth, but a dentist or hygienist can remove it using special instruments – this is known as scaling.

A dentist or hygienist can also polish your teeth. This removes stains from coffee, tea, cigarettes or red wine and it makes it more difficult for plaque to stick to your teeth.

If you clean your teeth very thoroughly at home, your scale and polish treatment will take less time.

Our hygienist will use hand and electric scrapers to get all around your mouth to those hard to reach places and make sure your teeth are completely clean.

For polishing, our hygienist will use a rotating brush or rubber polisher with a special toothpaste.

Scaling cleans above and below the gum line. If you have gum disease, you may also need deeper scaling, around the roots of the teeth, this is called ‘root planing’. You may require a local anaesthetic for this.

Your dentist or dental hygienist will also tell you about the best way to clean your teeth and gums thoroughly at home.

Benefits:

If your gums bleed when you brush you may have early gum disease. Regular scaling helps to stop the disease getting worse; and it helps to eliminate the disease by thorough cleaning at home.

Bad breath is often caused by gum disease. Regular scaling, and cleaning your teeth thoroughly at homes, can prevent this.