A dental hygiene and therapist’s primary role is to provide preventative care to our patients; this is undoubtedly an incredibly important role in our dental practice. Prevention is about giving you control of your oral health. Making sure that you have a stable and periodontally healthy mouth before embarking on complex restorations will give you the tools to help these restorations last.

Clinically they help to prevent periodontal disease by assessment, treatment and monitoring disease levels. They can take dental radiographs, undertake monitoring and screening procedures and also apply topical fluorides and fissure sealants in order to reduce dental caries. All whitening treatments can also be completed by a hygiene therapist.

Further, they can treat dentition with simple restorations and place preformed crowns and pulp treatments on deciduous teeth. They can carry out routine amalgams and composite fillings. Providing an adult tooth does not require treatment to the nerve of the tooth, a dental therapist can fill or restore any part of the tooth that requires treatment. Those with therapy skills have a great deal of experience in treating children.

Most restorative (prosthodontist) practices will ensure that the implant patient has acquired the knowledge, skills and oral health needed to aid the successful placement of implants. The maintenance of the dental implant is of the utmost importance for the rest of the implant’s life.

Because of this many of the hygienists working in this area have increased their education in this field and have quite a wide range of skills and knowledge in how to aid the patient in maintaining oral health. Our hygiene therapists have all undergone extra implant-specific training to ensure they give you the very best care.

Scaling and polishing is usually pain free. However, if you do have any discomfort we can use anaesthetic creams, or give you some local anaesthetic. It is important that you let your hygiene therapist know at the time so they can help with your pain.

Regular professional cleaning to remove plaque and tartar, combined with looking after your teeth and gums properly at home, will help keep your mouth healthy which will improve your appearance, help you to keep your teeth and give you fresh breath.

They will carefully remove the hard deposits of calculus that build up on the teeth and teach you how to prevent them coming back. This will do a lot to slow the progress of gum disease. By talking to you about your diet, and recommending other preventive measures, they can help you keep to a routine that will slow down tooth decay. Regular visits and advice will help build your confidence in keeping your mouth healthy.