Hygiene
Q: Why should I see a hygienist?
A: Regular long-term maintenance to ensure the health of the supporting tissues is essential for the success of any restorative treatment. Hygienists are specially trained to clean your teeth and monitor the health of the periodontal tissues. They work closely with, and under the prescription and supervision of, your dentist and will immediately report any changes in your dental state to you dentist. Generally they work single handed without a chair side assistant, using much less technologically advanced equipment and therefore their hourly rate is much less than that of a dentist. For this reason, regular 3 monthly appointments with a hygienist reporting back to your dentist is an extremely cost effective way of maintaining your dental health .
Q: Will the hygienist hurt me?
A: Many
patients find having their teeth cleaned the most traumatic part of any
dental treatment and dread visits to the hygienist! This is
particularly so for those patients who, for whatever reason, have not
been regular attendees and have suffered the ravages of gum disease
resulting in the exposure of sensitive root surfaces. The resultant
“catch 22” means that cleaning of the sensitive teeth is avoided and
therefore the disease progresses further- meaning that the teeth become
more sensitive and more bone is lost and so on until the teeth
themselves are lost.
Dr Paolella understands that in such
situations cleaning is, at best, uncomfortable, particularly if carried
out by an overzealous hygienist! In order to guarantee the gentleness
and dexterity of her hygienists, Dr Paolella interviews by having her
own teeth cleaned but she also insists her hygienists use copious
quantities of short acting local anaesthetic to ensure your comfort
during treatment.
For some patients, following the initial
course of cleaning appointments and the regular use of desensitising
agents , it may be possible to clean the teeth without the use of local
anaesthetic, but for others the teeth may remain sensitive and local
anaesthetic may always be necessary for long term maintenance.