Oral Disease Prevention can be defined as all the dental care methods that help to maintain good oral health. Its importance is easy to understand, considering that many pathogenic microorganisms enter the body through the mouth. Healthy teeth and gums provide valuable protection against many diseases.
It is a combination of dental checkups and treatments, and personal dental hygiene such as teeth brushing and flossing. Taking care of the teeth begins in childhood and extends throughout all life.
Dental hygiene consists of 4 essential habits: teeth brushing, flossing, mouth washing, and regular visits to the dentist (who will apply professional cleaning methods).
Good hygiene begins with proper brushing, which should be done just after each meal, and drinking beverages, especially sugary ones.
Brushing teeth after meals helps to eliminate food particles and, therefore, to combat tooth decay and the appearance of cavities; also helps to maintain healthy gums. The dentist should recommend the most suitable type of brush and the most efficient way to use it.
However, a good brush should have a flat surface, not too strong bristles, and a small head. It should always be clean and in a place where it can dry quickly and does not come into contact with other brushes.
Brushing technique
A proper brushing procedure takes at least two minutes. Most people don’t brush their teeth for so long, so to get an idea of the time involved, using a stopwatch could be helpful. To properly brush teeth, use short and smooth movements, paying particular attention to the gum line, difficult-to-reach posteriors teeth, and areas around fillings, crowns, and other repairs (in case of their existence). Focus on thoroughly cleaning each section of the next way:
Toothbrush:
It is an important instrument for the mechanical removal of food remains and bacterial plates. Usually consists of 2 parts: Handle and head. The last one is the active part and where the bristles are found; these can be soft, extra-soft, normal, or hard.
Toothbrushes types:
How to choose the right toothbrush?
Not all brushes are suitable for all persons; the type of toothbrush depends on the individual need. The toothbrush should fit the recommended brushing technique and be easy to handle.
Aspects to count for the choice of a toothbrush: |
✓ Straight handle |
✓ Adequate size according to the person´s age and mouth´s size |
✓ Toothbrush bristles must be plastic, not natural |
A good toothbrush should facilitate access to all regions of the mouth, and that´s why a small head is useful.
Nylon toothbrush bristles are the most recommended because they don´t incubate bacterial colonies.
A child-friendly toothbrush should be small, soft, with nylon bristles and a large handle for easy handling. Children don´t have the same neuromuscular coordination as an adult, which is why it could be very difficult to teach a complex and precision technique.
The electric toothbrush for pediatric use is also very useful since it can have a stopwatch that sounds every 30 seconds, motivating the child to respect brushing times.
The toothbrush should be replaced every 2-3 months after use. A brush that lost its original shape already will only irritate the gums and will not clean properly.
Floss:
It is usually a set of nylon filaments, which may or may not be waxed, with a wide variety of flavors. It´s used to remove plaque and food particles from places that the toothbrush can´t easily reach: under the gum and between the teeth.
Floss types:
There are 2 types of dental floss:
How to use it?
A.Taking about 45 cm (18″) of floss, roll up the largest part of it around the ring finger, leaving 3 or 5 cm (1 or 2 “) of floss to work with.
B.Hold the floss tightly between the thumb and index fingers, and gently slide it up and down between the teeth.
C.Curve the floss gently around the base of each tooth, making sure it passes under the gum. Never hit or force the floss as it may cut or injure the delicate gingival tissue.
D.Use sections of clean floss as you progress from tooth to tooth.
E.To remove the floss, use the same back and forth motion forward, pulling it up and away from the teeth.
Tongue cleaner:
It is specifically designed to reach the most distant areas of the tongue. It has two faces: one in profile special wavy to fit the central depression tongue, and another with a smooth profile, to clean the sides.
Steps to use tongue washer:
A.Clean the central part of the tongue first, using the face of the cleaner that has a protrusion. To do this, hold the tongue cleaner by the handle so that way, the protrusion is at the bottom.
B.Stick the tongue out and insert the tongue cleaner into the mouth trying to reach the furthest part of the tongue.
C.Drag the cleaner across the center of the tongue toward the front of the mouth.
D.Wash the cleaner with water.
E.Clean the sides of the tongue using the smooth side of the cleaner.
F.Wash with plenty of water after finishing.
Mouthwash
Also known as an oral rinse, it is a solution normally used after brushing teeth, to eliminate bacteria and microorganisms that cause cavities and eliminate unpleasant breath.
There are oral rinses with specific functions; depending on their composition, they can specialize in halitosis prevention (bad breath); others with fluoride that prevent cavities and optimize calcification of teeth. Likewise, mouthwashes are being designed to reduce or heal neoplasms in the oral cavity.
Steps for its proper use
A.Its use consists of cleaning the mouth with approximately 20 ml twice a day after brushed.
B.Keep itin the mouth for at least 1 minute, making it go through the entire oral cavity.
C.The mouth washing must be vigorous including gargling for 1 minute. It is recommended to not mouth washing with water after spitting out the oral rinse.
Generally, the visits to the specialist should be at least once a year (every 10 months approximately). In each hygiene process, the entire mouth will be checked to prevent and detect certain diseases or asymptomatic problems.
To prevent and treat periodontal diseases (such as gingivitis and periodontitis) the most important thing to do is eliminate bacterial plaque and check that it doesn´t form again; that’s why the patients must constantly remove the oral biofilm by brushing teeth, flossing, and mouth washing before it calcifies and becomes hard, because once hardened or mineralized a dental calculus (tartar) could be found, and professional intervention will be necessary.
Professional Cleaning Teeth Procedures
1.Scaling is a very important part of the initial phase of periodontal treatment.
2.Thorough scaling includes the removal of oral biofilm and extrinsic stains produced by coffee, tobacco, etc.
It is a laborious and routine technique that does not require anesthetizing the patient. The elimination of dental calculus can be performed by manual instruments or by ultrasound. After that, the teeth can be polished with baking soda and polishing tools. If ultrasound is used, the process can be made with manual instruments. Also, the joint use of both procedures is very effective in the following way:
✓ Dental Calculus detection: Using a probe, scanner and compressed air. Detection of supragingival calculus is relatively straightforward. |
✓ Manual instruments: In the first phase to remove large deposits and calculus bridges. |
✓ Mechanical instruments (ultrasonic or subsonic):Eliminate almost all the deposits. |
✓ Manual instruments again to finishing and for working in difficult access areas, controlling the total elimination of the stone with a fine probe. |
✓ Polishing with rubber cups, polishing strips, and abrasive paste. |
3.It´s the technique by which dental calculus, oral biofilm, pigmentation, and other organic deposits on the tooth surface are removed. There is a supragingival scraping and another subgingival.
4.Root planing. Its purpose is to eliminate the necrotic cement surface, the infected tissue in the deep pockets and achieve a surface as smooth as possible.
5.Dental polishing. After scaling, scraping, and smoothing teeth, it is essential to polish the tooth surface, both crown, and root. In this way a smoother surface can be achieved, this makes more difficult to get a new accumulation of plaque and stains, cuticles and oral biofilm. Polishing is carried out using abrasive pastes that can incorporate fluoride to reduce tooth sensitivity.
On the lingual, dental, and vestibular surfaces, the paste is applied with a cup or rubber cup. Once the paste is placed inside, and on the area to be worked on, at lowspeed, it is pressed against the tooth and is the flexibility of the cup that allows the partial penetration in the groove. On the occlusal surfaces, the prophylaxis brushes are used to apply the abrasive paste.
Using paper or acetate strips, and even with dental floss and abrasive paste, the interproximal areas will be polished with movements similar to how shoes are cleaned and taking care to not injure the gingival tissue.
It is important to know that although there is a type of basic cleaning, which is performed in people who have healthy periodontal tissues, it will not always be possible to apply it to all patients who come to the dental clinic.
There are cases where basic dental cleaning is not offered because it is necessary to apply deeper treatments. Of course, these treatments vary depending on the periodontal disease that the patient has.
Everything will depend on the pricing policy of the clinic as well. Furthermore, the procedure does not admit of great variations in practice.
