Dental Cleanings & Exams Park Ridge

When it comes to your pearly whites and smile, you probably want them to be as healthy, beautiful, and functional as possible, right? We believe that outstanding oral health is an essential part of living your best life. To help maintain your best health, we recommend preventive dental care such as dental exams and cleanings. When it comes to routine maintenance, the American Dental Association (ADA) recommends exams and cleanings every six months for most people. More frequent appointments may be recommended for those with chronic dental conditions to ensure the best oral health. Some people at very low risk might need only one cleaning and exam a year.

Are you overdue for a dental cleaning and exam? Contact Complete Health Dentistry of Park Ridge. We’ll happily add you to our schedule today.

Preventive dentistry is taking active steps that protect your teeth from decay. There are a wide variety of preventive measures you can take regarding your dental care. The most common at-home techniques are brushing your teeth and flossing.

Brushing your teeth regularly with fluoride-based toothpaste is essential to the well-being of your teeth. The ADA’s science-backed recommendations for tooth brushing include:

Scientific trials show that brushing your teeth twice a day reduces your risk of cavities and gum disease compared to less frequent brushing. Additional brushing doesn’t seem to provide more significant benefits.

Using fluoride toothpaste is also proven to protect your teeth. Fluoride helps your body rebuild your tooth enamel (the hard white outer coating) and make it stronger.

Brushing your teeth for two minutes leads to significantly more reduction of plaque (a biofilm made of food residue, bacteria, and their excretions) than shorter brushing. Setting a timer can help. It’s important to remember to brush all sides of your teeth. The ADA suggests that brushing in four 30-second intervals can help you brush more effectively by focusing on one quadrant at a time.

Additionally, replacing your toothbrush about 3-4 times a year will keep your preventative measures effective. Brushing your tongue as well may help to keep your breath fresh.

Flossing is less popular than brushing. Only about three in 10 Americans floss every day, compared to the seven out of 10 that brush at least daily. However, flossing plays an important role in cleaning the hard-to-reach areas between your teeth. If you wear braces, this preventive technique becomes even more important.

One challenge of flossing is that the technique isn’t always easy to master. If you’re having trouble flossing, let our hygienists demonstrate the technique for you. If it’s too hard, we might recommend alternative tools, such as pre-strung flossers, interdental cleaners, and water flossers.

Did you know that most people don’t fully clean their smiles? Even if you’re a regular brusher with a good technique, you’re likely to leave a little plaque behind, especially near the gums, where it’s hard to reach with brush or floss. This plaque residue absorbs minerals from your saliva (which are there, ironically, to heal your teeth) to become tartar, a rock-like deposit on your teeth. You can’t brush or floss these deposits away.

Tartar deposits aren’t just unattractive, they provide shelter for oral bacteria, which can grow and contribute to cavities or gum disease. At your professional cleaning, our hygienists will safely remove these deposits, then polish your teeth to a beautiful shine.

If you had gum disease, would you recognize the signs? We would. Do you know what demineralized enamel looks like? We do. Routine dental examinations in Park Ridge are essential to make sure your smile, gums, and overall oral health are as optimal as possible. If anything is noticed, your dentist can create a treatment plan and quickly address any problems before they advance and become more serious.

If we detect either gum disease or signs of demineralization (the first stage in cavity formation), they might require no more treatment than a slight change in your home hygiene routine. We might also recommend a fluoride treatment, which can reverse demineralization. Detected later, a cavity might need a filling and gum disease might require laser gum treatment. Too much later, and we might be talking about dental crowns and gum surgery. Obviously, the sooner we can detect these oral health problems, the better.