A lot of the procedures carried out in the dental chair can actually be avoided if you’ve got really good prevention in place – so that’s why it’s so important to visit us at Mendelsohn Dental on Royal on a regular basis. Having good preventative dental care so that you can avoid a lot of hassles in the future. 

Prevention is always better than cure

A big part of prevention is making sure you remove the plaque and calculus that’s in your mouth.  Dentist’s love to go on and on about plaque and calculus, so what is plaque?  

Plaque/Calculus

Plaque is the bacterial colonies that live in your mouth.  It’s the white gooey stuff that comes off when you brush your teeth. Calculus is when the plague gets hard and it can no longer be removed at home by yourself. The main place that calculus tends to build up is behind the lower front teeth down there and that’s because the saliva pulls in that area and minerals that calcify the plaque come from your salvia. This is the main spot that gets clean when you get a scale and clean at your dentist.

Research shows us that it actually takes us about 48 hours before plaque will reform on your teeth, but not everyone brushes their teeth so well that they can afford to only brush their teeth every two days. That’s why we recommend brushing morning and night to keep your plaque levels down.

Electric toothbrushes are fantastic, they make the job so much easier and quicker. The correct technique for brushing with a manual toothbrush is to angle towards the gum line and use gentle little circles the whole way around and it usually takes around three or four minutes to do a proper job. So we would recommend using both electric tooth brush and manual tooth brush (alternating throughout the week), this way you will be more likely to get getting a thorough all over clean.

If you have never used an electric tooth brush and are not sure about the expense just ask to use our Oral B demo model, (we have disposable heads and a protective cover for it) this way you can try before you buy, and you will feel the difference.

Flossing – people seem to see this as some type of optional extra but it is so important to do it once a day.  You can do it at any time of day whenever it suits you in your routine as long as it gets done. Getting daily fluoride exposure on to your teeth is really important; fluoride basically make your teeth more acid resistant, so it protects against decay and also help to protect against the daily onset of acidic things we put into our mouths like soft drink and citrus fruit; so getting that daily fluoride on there really helps to protect against acid. 

People often ask me how frequently they should be visiting their dentist and it’s a bit of a case of how long is a piece of string. It is going to depend on how well you clean your teeth at home and how much calculus your mouth builds up. At Mendelsohn Dental we believe in prevention so we strongly encourage most of our patient to come in for a scale and clean every six months.  With some patients we recommend coming in often and some not as often it all depends on the individual.  We don’t do it based on what your health cover with pay, but what is best for your health.

Children

Children especially should be coming in from an early age every six months.  This is not only so they can get a scale and clean but so we can help reinforce the importance of oral hygiene and try and prevent any problems for the future, the best place to stary preventative dentistry is with children.  The advantage of coming in young is also so they can build a positive relationship with the staff and if ever they need to have a more serious procedure they will have less anxiety around the procedure. 

Another interesting thing to note and remember is that most of the time when children have anxiety/nerves about attending the dentist or any doctor for that matter they have learnt it from their parents.  So try and make medical appointment a positive experience and remember even if you have anxiety try and not show your children this.  Dentistry is a changes world from when many of us grew up and it should be a positive and rewarding experience to visit us.

We can also make mouth guards for various sports including soccer, football, hockey, martial arts and many more, which will help protect them from injury to their teeth and facial trauma. 

To make an appointment give us a call on 9225 6564 or book online at www.MendelsohnDental.com.au.  We are open extended hours and Saturdays for your convenience.