Professional teeth cleaning is an essential stage of oral hygiene that matters for the health of your teeth and gums. A toothbrush and the other special devices used daily in home care are, unfortunately, not enough to thoroughly clean the interdental spaces and the subgingival area of plaque. You need to visit the dentist regularly for a preventive check-up and for special procedures that cannot be performed at home — for example, removing plaque. If professional teeth cleaning is not done in time, plaque turns into tartar, which can cause gum inflammation (gingivitis or periodontitis), caries and tooth destruction. Regular visits to a hygienist help prevent the development of caries, periodontitis and other gum diseases.
Tartar forms in areas that are inaccessible to self-cleaning, where soft plaque accumulates: as a rule, it forms from food residue, bacteria and various mineral components that contribute to the build-up of a hard mass in the form of tartar. Depending on its location, there is subgingival and supragingival tartar. Supragingival tartar can be seen on your own, while subgingival tartar — usually dense and hard, dark brown in colour — adheres very tightly to the surface of the tooth root. Detecting subgingival tartar is only possible during a thorough dental examination with special instruments. Dentists advise having the tartar removal procedure once every six months.
Causes of tartar formation
- poor or incorrect oral hygiene;
- the wrong choice of oral hygiene products (toothpaste, brush, special rinses, etc.);
- an unbalanced diet — for example, consuming a lot of carbohydrates, fizzy drinks or sweets, with no solid food in the diet;
- certain internal diseases accompanied by a large number of pathogenic bacteria and the use of antibiotics and other medications;
- a metabolic disorder also contributes to the formation of tartar;
- consumption of alcoholic drinks and smoking;
- increased salivation;
- malocclusion, as a result of which the chewing load is distributed unevenly.
Methods of tartar removal
The tartar removal procedure must be performed only in a dental office. On the dentist’s recommendation, you can use special products or irrigators at home, but all these devices are hygiene aids and cannot be equivalent to professional hygiene. In specialised clinics, tartar is removed by experienced hygienists or periodontists. Professional teeth cleaning consists of a whole set of procedures that cause no discomfort and are aimed at maintaining the health of the teeth and gums.
Ultrasonic tartar removal
Tartar removal using ultrasound is an effective method successfully used to combat plaque. Tartar is removed during ultrasonic cleaning with special scalers, inside which ultrasonic oscillations and vibration waves are generated. As a result of their action, the attachment of plaque to the tooth surface is broken and the teeth are cleaned of tartar. During the removal of deposits, liquid is constantly supplied to the tip of the instrument: this prevents the tip from overheating, and the liquid also flushes plaque residue out of the periodontal pockets.
Air-abrasive tartar removal with the AIR-FLOW system
Air-abrasive tartar removal is performed using the AIR-FLOW device. Its principle is based on delivering a solution of calcium carbonate (with no soda in the composition), water and compressed air to the tooth surface under a certain pressure. This air-abrasive stream removes plaque and tartar, as well as pigmentation in hard-to-reach areas. Since the organic film covering the tooth is lost during cleaning, for the first 2-3 hours it is not recommended to consume staining drinks and foods or to smoke.
