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During the second week in April, we recognize and celebrate the expert care dental hygienists provide. Let’s take a moment this week to explore how the special skills of this valued member of your dental team in Peoria, AZ enrich your dental health.

Regular Cleanings

Dentists typically recommend routine dental examinations twice a year, and these visits will almost always include an in-office cleaning by your hygienist.

Dental hygienists are highly trained healthcare professionals who are specialists in caring for your teeth and gums. The hygienists who work with Dr. Thomas Shipley know how to work with orthodontic patients, and because braces and appliances can make brushing and flossing trickier, cleaning appointments are especially important while you’re in orthodontic treatment.

• Plaque and tartar need to be removed from tooth enamel to help prevent cavities and gum disease. While you can brush away plaque, it takes a dental professional to remove tartar, which is plaque which has mineralized over time.Your hygienist might use a hand scaler, an ultrasonic scaler, or both tools to carefully scrape hardened tartar from your tooth enamel.
• Your cleaning will also include polishing, where surface stains on the enamel are removed using a gentle abrasive. This cleaning might be done with a special toothpaste applied with a small rotating cup or with an air polisher, which removes stains with a stream of fine abrasive powder, water, and pressurized air.
• An expert flossing will remove any remaining plaque from between the teeth.

Deep Cleaning

Hygienists help prevent gum disease. Plaque and tartar on tooth surfaces below the gum line increase your risk of gum disease. Irritated gum tissue gradually pulls away from the teeth, creating pockets of bacteria and causing inflammation and infection.

• Your hygienist will use a probe to gently measure the depth of the space between the teeth and gums. Deeper than normal spaces or bleeding could be a sign of gum disease.
• Tartar on the tooth surface below the gum line will be removed using a treatment called scaling, a non-surgical procedure where your hygienist uses hand scalers or ultrasonic tools to carefully scrape hardened plaque from the tooth.
• Root planing might be done to smooth the root surfaces so that gum tissue can attach snugly around the teeth again, protecting the roots from plaque buildup and bacteria.

Preventative and Cosmetic Care

Some hygienists work with dentists to provide additional diagnostic, preventative, and cosmetic services:

• X-rays and digital imaging.
• Oral cancer screenings.
• Sealants, thin plastic coatings which protect the top surfaces of molars—the most likely places to develop cavities—from accumulating food particles and plaque.
• Fluoride treatment, if recommended, applied in varnish, foam, or gel form.
• Professional whitening treatments.

Education

Finally, your dental hygienist is an educator!

• When it comes to brushing, there are effective techniques and . . . not so effective techniques. Your hygienist can teach you the best way to clean away food particles and plaque, as well as the best tools for the job. This is especially important when you have braces or appliances, which can make it harder to keep your teeth their cleanest.
• During a cleaning, your hygienist will point out any spots where plaque has built up, which can be common around brackets and wires. Discovering the spots where you tend to leave plaque behind allows you to do a better, more thorough cleaning job at home, and will help make sure you have a healthy smile when your braces come off!
• Flossing can be difficult for some patients because they have braces, or because of the way their teeth are aligned, or because of dexterity issues. Your hygienist can show you the best way to floss, as well as recommend products such as specially designed flosses or water flossers which will make flossing around braces and appliances easier and more effective.

The dental hygienists at Shipley Orthodontics are skilled professionals who work to create cleaner, brighter, healthier smiles for their patients every day. This week, we appreciate them for helping us achieve the beautiful smiles we get to appreciate all year long!

Press Pause

If you are getting braces in the near future, it’s very important to see your regular dentist first. That way, any cavities or other dental problems can be treated before your first orthodontic appointment at our Peoria, AZ office.

Play it Safe

Once you have your braces, you’ll hearing a lot about how you need to be especially careful with your dental hygiene. Why? Because wires and brackets are obstacles to getting your teeth and gum area their cleanest. Plaque and food particles tend to stick to braces, and all too often can be missed while brushing. Plaque builds up around your gum line and brackets, and, in a very short time, can lead to sensitivity, demineralization, and cavities.

What can you do to prevent tooth decay?

• Increase Your Brushing Time

Instead of brushing twice a day, start brushing for two minutes after every meal. Put together a travel bag with a small toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and interproximal brushes to clean your teeth when you’re on the go. If you absolutely can’t brush, rinse carefully with water, and then brush as soon as you can.

• Flossing—More Important than Ever

Use the flossing tools designed just for braces to make sure you’ve removed food particles and plaque from around your braces and gums. A water flosser can be helpful if manual flossing isn’t effective.

• Keep Up with Your Regular Dental Care

Schedule regular checkups and professional cleanings at your dentist’s office. They will be able to remove plaque you might miss at home.  

• Follow Our Advice

We’ll give you instructions on how to brush and floss, what products to use, and diet suggestions (such as keeping sugary and sticky foods off the menu and away from your braces). If we notice plaque building up around your gums and brackets, we’ll let you know that you need to step up your hygiene habits. We can also suggest rinses and toothpastes that help fight plaque.

But if, despite all your efforts, you do get a cavity? There are options!

• Ignoring Your Cavity?

Not an option. You shouldn’t wait until you are out of braces to get a cavity treated. This just gives decay a chance to spread further.

• Working With Your Braces

Repairing a cavity means removing the decay in the tooth, cleaning the area, and then filling the tooth. If your cavity isn’t located near your bands, brackets, or wires, your dentist might be able to work around your braces, and you can get your cavity treated during a regular dental appointment.

• Removing Parts of Your Braces for Treatment

Sometimes a cavity is located in a spot that your dentist can’t reach because of your braces. In that case, we’re able to coordinate with your dentist and remove a wire or bracket temporarily so you can have your tooth filled. Make an appointment to replace your bracket and re-attach your wire, and you’ll be back on schedule as soon as possible.

Fast Forward

Keep your eyes on your goal--you’re in braces because you want a beautiful smile. Keeping on top of your dental health is an essential part of creating that smile. Talk to Dr. Thomas Shipley about tips for getting your teeth their cleanest. If you do develop a cavity, we’ll help you figure out the best way to treat it without causing too much delay in your orthodontic treatment. Taking care of your teeth now is the best way to create a future of beautiful smiles!

When you get braces as a child, you usually present the orthodontist with a blank canvas—newly erupted, perfect permanent teeth, just waiting to be aligned. But if you are a bit older, your canvas might already be a bit busy, with fillings, crowns, perhaps even a missing tooth. Can Dr. Thomas Shipley still work with that more complicated picture? Yes!

• Fillings

Many of us have acquired a filling or two. Normally, an old filling shouldn’t interfere with new braces. Large fillings, however, might call for spacers. These small rubber bands are inserted between two teeth as needed to create enough room for bands and brackets, and are generally put in place a week or two before you get your braces. They frequently fall out on their own as the space between the teeth gets a bit wider.

• Crowns

If you have had a root canal or any other dental treatment that left you with a crowned tooth, no need to be concerned. A special dental adhesive can be used to adhere brackets to crowns.

• Implants

If you have or would like to get an implant, this is a time to coordinate with your orthodontist and dentist or oral surgeon. Sometimes an implant can anchor your appliance, and sometimes it’s best to keep the spot open until your orthodontic work is completed. Once in place, an implant will not have the mobility of a tooth, so it’s always best to make sure your doctors can create a schedule that will work for both the installation of the implant and the positioning of your braces.

• Healthy Teeth and Gums

Before you begin orthodontic work, talk to your dentist. If you need a filling or crown, are considering a dental implant, have symptoms of gum disease, or are looking at any other dental concerns, you should work with your dentist first. Healthy teeth and gums are the very best foundation for orthodontic treatment at any age.

If you are wondering whether Dr. Thomas Shipley can help you achieve the smile you’ve always wanted, talk to us when you visit our Peoria, AZ office! Your past dental work will be just one of the many variables we take into consideration when we’re planning your future of picture-perfect smiles.

We’re not talking about caring for major appliances here—the refrigerators, dishwashers, and washing machines which make our lives easier. We’re talking about some much smaller appliances which produce major personal results—the dental appliances which help create healthy, attractive smiles.

A dental appliance is simply any device which helps promote dental health. And while that definition is awfully broad, you still might be surprised at the many types of dental work which qualify! Today, we look at “fixed” appliances. These devices and restorations stay in the mouth, unlike removeable appliances like aligners and retainers. How do they work for us, and how do we give them the care they need to work most effectively?

Space Maintainers

If you’ve lost a baby tooth prematurely, your orthodontist or dentist might recommend a space maintainer. A space maintainer holds the space open for your adult tooth to arrive in its proper spot by preventing the surrounding teeth from shifting out of position. Space maintainers can protect tooth alignment and reduce the need for later orthodontic treatment.

Traditional Braces

Traditional braces make use of brackets, arch wires, bands, and ligatures in a wide variety of materials and styles to align teeth properly and help correct malocclusions. Braces normally stay in place for 18-24 months, with more time as needed for more complex malocclusions.

Functional Appliances

Functional appliances like the palatal expander and the Herbst® appliance are used to guide jaw development during the treatment of malocclusions, helping patients achieve their best smiles while the jaw and facial bones are still growing. Because these appliances stay in the mouth until this stage of treatment is complete, caring for them can present some day-to-day challenges.

Fillings and Crowns

It might seem odd, but fillings and crowns are also considered dental appliances because they protect tooth structure. It’s especially important to take care of your teeth while you’re in orthodontic treatment, because interrupting your treatment to repair a damaged filling or crown might delay your regular orthodontic schedule.

So many appliances, helping us protect and improve our dental health in so many ways! Here are some steps you can take to make sure these appliances perform at their best:

• Clean carefully—and more often

You might need to brush and floss after every meal and snack to prevent plaque buildup and to keep food particles from sticking to braces and functional appliances. Dr. Thomas Shipley can recommend your optimal cleaning schedule.

• Explore new tools

Interproximal brushes, flosses designed for braces, and water flossers can make cleaning teeth and appliances easier and more effective. Talk to your orthodontic and dental teams to learn the best tools and techniques for your specific needs.

• Eat with your appliances in mind

Sticky, chewy, hard, and crunchy foods are not on the menu when you have a fixed appliance! Sticky and chewy foods like caramels can damage appliances and are difficult to clean from appliances and enamel. Hard foods require biting pressure which can damage appliances—and your fillings and teeth! Crunchy foods can leave irritating little particles stuck in and under appliances. Dr. Thomas Shipley has all the details on choosing foods which are good for your teeth and your orthodontics.

• Stick to your orthodontic routine

Wearing appliances as recommended is the only way to make sure you finish your treatment on schedule. Keeping up with your appointments and adjustments keeps you on track and allows the team at Shipley Orthodontics to discover any problems with your appliances.

• Watch out for destructive habits

Habits which aren’t good for your teeth and gums are also not good for your appliances. Nail biting, chewing on pencils or other objects, using teeth as tools to open bags or bottle caps, crunching on ice, and other behaviors which can damage tooth enamel can also damage fillings, crowns, braces, and other appliances.

• Don’t ignore potential problems

Call your orthodontic team in Peoria, AZ at once if your appliance is causing you pain or shows any signs of damage. See your dentist if a filling or crown is uncomfortable, loose, or damaged.

It doesn’t take a lot of daily care and effort to make sure your appliances are working their best—and the reward is a future of beautiful, healthy smiles!