Teeth cleanings - Boynton Beach, FL

You should come in once every three to four months for a cleaning for a few reasons:

• Prevent Gum Disease: Gum disease stems from inadequate oral hygiene. Without proper brushing, routine flossing and regular teeth cleanings, plaque will build on your teeth and lead to gum inflammation. Some bacteria and plaque cannot be removed by flossing and brushing, and, thus, regular cleanings are needed to clean these areas.
• Oral Cancer Screening: During your dental cleaning, your hygienist not only cleans your teeth but also screens for suspicious lesions in and around your mouth. Unfortunately, around 30,000 Americans are diagnosed with oral cancer each year, and the five-year survival rate is only 50% percent. However, survival rates drastically increase with early detection. So, please visit your dental office regularly for your hygiene appointments.
• Routine Check Up: During the dental cleaning, your dentist will typically examine you. In addition, any necessary x-rays are taken to detect potential or existing dental problems before they progress. Also, your hygiene appointment is an opportunity to express any worries or ask any questions about your oral health.
• Prevent Bad Breath: Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is often due to inadequate oral hygiene. As your body fights the bacteria in your mouth, chemicals are released that smell poorly.
• Brighten Your Smile: Your hygienist not only removes the plaque from your teeth but also polishes off stains and discolorations as much as possible.

As opposed to an ordinary teeth cleaning, a Deep Teeth Cleaning is the first line of treatment for patients with gum disease, also referred to as periodontal disease. The procedure goes by many common names, such as “dental scaling”, “scaling and root planning”, “deep teeth scaling”, and “deep cleaning”.​

The cause of gum disease is an accumulation of bacteria and plaque between your gums and your teeth. In the area where your gum tissue touches each tooth, there is a little pocket or sulcus. Bacteria can enter accumulate in this pocket and cause inflammation of your gums. Furthermore, without treatment, the inflammation can worsen and eventually damage the bone that underlies the gums and holds your teeth in place. This bacterial infection is referred to as gum disease or medically called periodontal disease.

The first step of treating gum disease is to remove the bacteria and plaque that has accumulated in the pocket between your gums and your teeth. In order to accomplish this task, a Deep Teeth Cleaning is needed. In this procedure, your periodontist (gum specialist) uses special instruments below your gum line and cleans out everything. In order to ensure your comfort throughout the procedure, your periodontist will numb the area. The deep cleaning is divided into quadrants (such as the upper right teeth, upper left teeth, lower left teeth, and lower right teeth). Due to the procedure’s detailed nature and the use of a numbing agent, only one or two quadrants are typically completed in each visit.

If you compare a Deep Teeth Cleaning to an ordinary cleaning, an ordinary cleaning involves removing the plaque that is on the visible surfaces of your teeth. During a Deep Teeth Cleaning, bacteria is removed from deep below the gum line.

At Eriks Dental, our goal is to prevent gum disease in all of our patients. If a patient does have gum disease, we do everything possible to immediately treat the serious condition and prevent it from returning. With over 18 years of experience, our periodontist (gum specialist) Dr. Lee Hauer comes to the office each week to treat any patient with gum disease and perform Deep Teeth Cleanings.