Adopting a preventive attitude toward your oral health helps maintain a smile free from decay and disease. By combining your daily brushing and flossing efforts at home with regular checkups from your dentist, you remove harmful oral bacteria that can build on the surface of your smile. Without treatment, plaque and tartar buildup lead to cavities, gum disease, and other destructive oral threats. Because certain deposits can only be removed with the tools and expertise of a professional, we invite you to schedule a checkup if it has been a while since you sat in the dental chair.
At your Katy, TX, dental practice, we recommend visiting at least twice per year for your cleaning and examination. In addition to removing plaque deposits, your dental exam helps create a dental record to detect any sudden changes in the appearance of your teeth. This allows us to detect any health problems early in their development and provide treatment as soon as possible.
How Plaque And Tartar Build In Your Smile
At any given moment your mouth contains billions of oral bacteria that can feed on sugar and starch found in your daily diet. This is why we ask you to limit sugar consumption so as to not accelerate the growth of plaque and tartar. By brushing and flossing each morning, you remove the sticky film that collects as bacteria feed. Without treatment, your deposits give off an acidic waste byproduct that is corrosive to the protective enamel on each tooth. Eventually, this can form permanent holes, or cavities, that grow in scope without treatment.
Oral bacteria are also the cause of gum disease when they infect your gingival tissues. If you have symptoms such as inflamed gums, consistent bleeding when you brush, or chronic bad breath, let us know right away. Caught in its earliest stage, gingivitis is potentially reversible. Otherwise, gum disease risks becoming permanent when it reaches your jawbone.
Periodontal Maintenance Therapy
If we detect the presence of gum disease, we can put you on a special treatment schedule to provide additional support. We can perform a scaling and root planing procedure that accesses bacterial deposits below your gumline to help you heal. By peeling back the affected portion of gum, we clean the entire tooth and its root, allowing your tissue to reattach. When successful, your inflammation, bleeding, and bad breath should subside. Depending on the extent of your disease and symptoms, we may ask you to return for follow-up cleanings on a more consistent basis than your traditional checkup.
Talk To Your Katy, TX, Dentist About Removing Harmful Bacteria from Your Grin
Regular dental cleanings help us protect your smile before problems begin to exhibit. To learn more about how our team can keep smiles of all ages strong, please call Lathrop Dental Center in Katy, TX at (832) 437-3849 to schedule a visit.
