Professional dental cleanings are vitally important for helping you achieve and maintain an attractive and healthy smile. The American Dental Association, and our dental team, recommends that people of most ages complete professional cleanings every six months or so.
Today our Glendale dentists are reviewing some of the key reasons that semi-annual professional cleanings are necessary:
1. Clean away plaque and tartar
You already brush and floss your teeth at home in order to minimize the amount of plaque in your mouth. However, it is impossible for you to get it all; using professional tools and techniques, our dentists will give your smile a clean slate. Importantly, we are able to clear away tartar—calcified plaque—which is virtually impossible for patients to eliminate at home.
2. Perform important oral health screenings
When you keep up with your schedule of professional dental cleanings, you allow our team to keep up with any changes to your smile. At every appointment we will perform an oral cancer screening; because the earliest stages of oral cancers are often asymptomatic, oral cancer screenings are critical. When you come in we’ll also look for spots of emerging decay and infection, so that we can treat them early (before they become advanced and more difficult/expensive to treat).
Our dental team often hears from patients who have not been to the dentist in a long time; they wonder whether it is worth it for them to come in for a professional cleaning. Our answer is an enthusiastic “yes!”
If you haven’t had a cleaning in a long time the best thing that you can do for your smile is to get back on track ASAP. It’s never too late to put your oral health first.
If you have questions about what happens at a professional cleaning, or how you can schedule one, please feel free to call our Glendale dentists.