MEDICAL INSIDER DR. RHODA ENTERO
Tooth Scaling and Polishing
(Part 2)
Let us talk about Plaque, Tartar, Gingivities, and Periodontal Disease as part of tooth scaling and polishing.
Your teeth are almost always bathed in saliva if you’re of the healthy sort and you’re not suffering from dry mouth syndrome.
This saliva delivers many substances, including calcium, to your teeth to keep them healthy, strong, and protected.
This is a great thing that your saliva is supposed to do, but this also means build up of calcium deposits on your teeth if you don’t care of your plaque formation regularly.
Here are the essentials of dental scaling and polishing.
How Does Plaque Build Up Exactly? Plaque happens to everyone because everyone needs to eat in order to survive.
It’s essentially the combination of bacteria, saliva, and proteins in your mouth that form a film or a thin layer of leftover that covers your teeth at all times until you brush it off.
This plaque won’t turn into tartar or calculus as long as you regularly brush your teeth or treat your gingivitis with the right medical mouthwash. However, some people can’t help but be neglectful.
Calculus isn’t Just a Math Subject: The dental version of calculus is just another name for tartar. It’s a chalky substance made of plaque and calcium that builds up over time. It’s hard to notice because it’s usually tooth-colored and mistaken as part of your teeth. However, it can also be black or brown in color, thus making it stand out like a sore thumb. A dentist should be able to figure out if you have calculus deposits on your teeth.
Tartar Is Not Tooth Cement or Filling: Don’t think that calculus filling in the gaps and cavities of your teeth is a good thing. Rather, it’s quite problematic. This is because tartar is still made of plaque and the bacteria contained herein are eating at it like hard candy while spewing acid all around. This then leads to bacteria thriving and spreading into your gums, which would lead to gingivitis and periodontitis. They should be removed along with the plaque that helped them develop in the first place. (To be continued)