Prevention is always a better option than treatment. By proactively preventing disease and decay through regular home maintenance, professional dental cleanings and regular dental office visits, you can maintain a healthy, beautiful smile. Professional Cleanings Professional  dental cleanings are best performed by our certified dental hygienists  to form the foundation for preventing gum disease and decay. During your professional cleaning, our hygienist will: Remove plaque from your teeth – Plaque is a substance that forms on your teeth from food, saliva and bacteria. It contains germs that cause tooth decay and gum disease. Remove calculus (tarter) from the gum line – Calculus is hardened plaque that has attached to the tooth surface and is difficult to remove. (Calculus below the gum line indicates more serious gum disease and requires non surgical gum therapy to remove it.) Polish and remove stains from teeth Give detailed home care instructions to help you keep your teeth for a lifetime Dental Examinations These help to diagnose disease before it becomes dangerous to your health. As well, regular examinations can save you money by treating problems while they are small and before they become costly to repair, or in some cases, impossible to fix. Your dental examinations usually include the following: Oral cancer evaluation Gum disease assessment Examination of tooth decay Examination of digital x-rays to see cysts, tumors, invisible decay and other problems that can't be seen by eye Evaluation of status of current fillings and others conditions We cannot stress enough how important it is to see your dentist regularly. Remember, preventing disease is always better than treating disease because it is less expensive and less discomforting. Home Care Prevention starts at home. Adequate home care is neede if you want to maintain a healthy, attractive smile and prevent costly dental care in the future. The goal of home care is to regularly remove the sticky plaque (film of bacteria) from your teeth. Brushing Brush your teeth twice per day using a soft brush. Softly vibrate the brush in a circular fashion at a 45-degree angle to the gum line. Then gently vibrate the brush back and forth on each tooth surface until you have cleaned your whole mouth. Also brush your tongue to remove the germs that causes bad breath. We also recommend the use of electric toothbrushes such as Sonicare and Braun Oral-B. If you do have an electric toothbrush, one of our experienced hygienists will take the time to demonstrate on how to use it most effectively. Flossing Floss daily to remove plaque in between teeth that can't be  reached with regular brushing. Using 12" to 18" of dental floss wrapped it around the middle finger of each hand, pull the floss tightly, and then use your thumb and forefingers to slide the floss gently between your teeth. Curve the floss around each tooth and move it up and down along the tooth, going as far down as you can without causing discomfort to get under the gum line. Rinsing You may occasionally use a non-alcohol mouthwash to rinse. However,  some recent studies indicate that the over-use of mouthwash in a healthy mouth can change the normal  activity of the mouth, leading to dried tissues and other concerns. Sealants Protect the biting surface of teeth from decay. The Problem: Normal pits and grooves on the chewing surface of back teeth The Solution: Normal pits and grooves on the surfaces of back teeth can trap food that can't be removed by brushing or washed out by water or saliva. A sealant is a  plastic material designed to stick to tooth enamel. Advantages: These sealants are painted onto the tooth surface to "seal" the pits and grooves and protect from decay. They are usually applied to children's permanent back teeth. They can also be useful for adults in some situations. Disadvantages: Sealants are usually not permanent. They can last about five years with normal wear, but can also wear off or chip off earlier in some cases. Since sealants do not prevent decay between teeth or the onset of gum disease, regular home care and dental visits are important. Digital X-Rays How do x-rays help? Dental x-rays or radiographs are very important. They allow the dentist to detect problems that cannot be seen by the naked eye. These items include: loss of bone supporting the teeth (periodontal disease), cysts (sacks of fluid that form on the roots of teeth), cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, decay that occurs between teeth, and the location of teeth that haven't yet erupted into the mouth. By using an x-ray to make certain no pathology is present, we can help save you time, expense, pain, and money by possibly avoiding additional treatments. In some cases, when dental x-rays show the location of tumorous growths, x-rays can be responsible for saving your life. Are dental x-rays safe? We use the most modern x-ray technology available today. Because our x-ray machines are digital, your radiation exposure is reduced by about 90 percent! The amount of radiation exposure your body receives on an airplane flight from Los Angeles to New York exceeds the amount of exposure you receive from a conventional, not digital, dental x-ray machine. Contrast this minimal exposure with the risk of not finding a problem until it has become serious, and you can see why we prescribe preventive diagnostic x-rays. Gum Disease Gum disease (Periodontal Disease) is the cause of about 70 percent of adult tooth loss. It includes swollen, inflamed gums surrounding the teeth and loss of supporting bone around the teeth. If not removed, plaque hardens and turns into a substance called calculus or tarter that is very hard to remove. Eventually, the germs in the plaque and tarter eat away at the fibers that attach the gums to the teeth, creating deep pockets. As germs spread, the pockets become deeper until the germs finally eat away the bone that holds the teeth in place. Gum disease is properly diagnosed through a process that measures the depth of the pockets around the teeth. Pockets that are more than 3 millimeters in depth are considered infected and will generally require treatment. How is gum disease treated? Non-surgical therapy is acheived by removing the plaque and tartar from the tooth surface above and below the gums. This is called scaling and root planing. These procedures are usually performed one to four times per year to maintain proper oral health, all depending on the individual’s condition. When non-surgical therapy is unable to achieve good oral health, Laser treatment or possibly surgery may be required. Surgical therapy may be recommended to restore the gum tissues and supporting bone that have been damaged by periodontal disease and when non-surgical therapy is not successful. In many cases we can now treat these problems with a Dental Laser and avoid surgery with a scalpel. These procedures may involve; gum pocket reduction, grafts, crown/tooth lengthening, cosmetic reshaping and gum/bone regeneration. Surgery allows a person to clean and maintain their gums and teeth more easily.