Dental Advise Please, How often should teeth be dentist cleaned and more?

Lady_K

I thought teeth should be cleaned by a dentist every 3 or 6 months but when daughter went for a check up and teeth clean the dentist told her that her teeth did not need cleaning and they were perfect as they are.

She last had them cleaned around 10 months ago and tried to book another clean for 6 months on but had to wait till now for the appointment. She has been told that she will not need to come for another year so that means her teeth wont have been cleaned for 1yr 10 months by then and this next appointment has been put down as check up only too so it could be even longer, surely she shouldnt have to go all this time without having her teeth cleaned?

The dentist had a student in with her during the appointment and did spend a long time doing a thorough check of neck and vocal things she hadnt ever had before which took a long time which makes me wonder if she did this rather than the teeth clean my daughter had booked for.

It just concerns me because this dentist is extremely busy and only works 2 half days a week but still has a full case load of patients, she dropped her hours right down after having several babies so I'm just worried that she may be trying to lessen her workload as you have to wait at least 4 months to get an appointment with her. My daughter would change her dentist but shes kind of tied to this one because she also does othodontistry which she will always need and its not easy to get an nhs dentist that does this treatment aswell. Even though I think the othodontic treatment is not covered by the nhs it probably works out much better and cheaper for my daughter to do it this way than have to pay for that separately.

Its just worrying as it wont be easy for her to get appointments now she is working, its not easy getting time off when shes a nurse and having to know if you can make an appointment booked 4 months or a year away that fits in with her shifts causes problems so when she does have an appointment she wants to get it done in one go which she hasnt done.

Is the Dentist right in not cleaning her teeth and putting her on 12 monthly check ups?

ailuro2

If your DD's teeth are cleaned properly and flossed by her, then why would she need them cleaned by a dentist? Wouldn't the dentist would just be doing unnecessary things then?

I don't always get my teeth cleaned by my dentist, only when they need it the dentist gives them a quick scale and polish.

suki1964

NHS? One scale and polish in a 12 month period unless its needed as treatment for gum disease

Toothsmith

Pretty much agree with what the other 2 have said.

Not sure why your daughter will 'always' need orthodontics. generally, its a treatment that's just done once, and any dentist can monitor it after that.

Chances are, if she went to a private practice, they'd be cleaned a bit more often, but on the NHS she should get what's 'necessary'.

alison999

You should, if anything be glad that shes doing such a wonderful job herself!!

Lady_K

Oh I am very pleased that she looks after her teeth so well, she always has done. She does not floss though but she is going to try it.

When I say orthontic treatment I mean that she has had years of braces from the age of 12, first a removable brace to push a tooth forwards which worked a little but not enough, that was for about 1 year. Then she had full lower and upper fitted braces for about 18 months followed by a plastic retainer which she gradually reduced usage over a period of a year. Then one particular tooth, the one they first started with by pushing it forward just keeps on twisting back around and causing her a lot of pain so she had to have another brace fitted a week before she started her first university which was not a nice prospect after having braces for so long. She kept that for another 18 months followed again by a retainer gradually weaning off that once more. Unfotunately though it happened again the tooth kept on twisting and causing pain. She went back and they fitted a permanent bar behind the tooth to help it stay in place and she was told that she would have to have this permanently as well as wearing a retainer every night for the rest of her life which she does do. However she has always said that she felt the permanent braces were removed too quickly for her not allowing some of her teeth to move back enough in order to give the twisting tooth room to stay put better, she feels its squashed and she says she cannot move her jaw properly or close her mouth properly it clicks although she looks fine.

The original orthodiontistry was done at a proper orthodtist covered by the nhs before she left school and high school but the second fixed brace was done by this dentist as she was told she wouldnt be covered to go back to the original one but as she was a student they got around it there.

She does need to have the retainer replaced every so often and the back wire/bar redone every so often too, I have never been happy with this and cant help feeling its bodging it up, after having the braces for so long and following everything correctly she has to have this and still has pain even with this too

Toothsmith

Lady_K wrote: »

She does need to have the retainer replaced every so often and the back wire/bar redone every so often too, I have never been happy with this and cant help feeling its bodging it up, after having the braces for so long and following everything correctly she has to have this and still has pain even with this too

A normal dentist could sort this out as and when required - although I'm not sure how orthodontics are paid for a GP dentist now on the NHS. Orthodontic 'target points' are different to general dental 'target points' and one rarely earns the other! (It's very complicated - that's why I have nothing to do with it!)

The big problem with some orthodontics is the result just isn't stable. You can't fight the genes sometimes.

You can get a good result, but without permanent retention, parts of it will just drift back. Not all the way - but it can spoil the look.

In these cases, permanent wires, or wearing a retainer at night time forever more - or until you get fed up - is the only way to keep the result.

It's not a bodge up - just what happens in some cases.

Lady_K

Thankyou that reasures me quite a bit, the dentist did say that when a tooth twists like that one they are the most difficult to stay put but her feeling she cant close her mouth properly and the jaw clicking still concerns me.

Her teeth look cosmetically lovely and healthy and the twisty tooth isnt really that noticeably different but if she didnt follow the retainer every night without fail it would definitely be much worse.

When she first started treatment with the moving forward of that tooth all those years ago a different dentist she had at that time told her this was most likely due to a first tooth being taken out too early when it was loose. Because of this the teeth either side took over the gap where the replacement tooth should have been given time to grow more prominently. This forced the new tooth to grow further behind. So it just shows when your childs teeth are loose its better to let it fall out on its own rather than wobble it out too early

Toothsmith

Lady_K wrote: »

When she first started treatment with the moving forward of that tooth all those years ago a different dentist she had at that time told her this was most likely due to a first tooth being taken out too early when it was loose. Because of this the teeth either side took over the gap where the replacement tooth should have been given time to grow more prominently. This forced the new tooth to grow further behind. So it just shows when your childs teeth are loose its better to let it fall out on its own rather than wobble it out too early

I would disagree with this bit.

Teeth can be lost early for several reasons, and sometimes this can cause problems. That tooth would have gone wobbly earlythough, and leaving it alone wouldn't have kept it in for a significantly longer time.

On the whole, when a tooth goes wobbly, the child should be encouraged to wobble it and get it out. More problems can be caused by hanging onto really wobbly teeth. They can get sore, they can deflect adult teeth, they can make effective toothbrushing painful, they can make eating painful.

Get them wobbled out!


As to your other concerns about your daughter, I would ask the dentist about the clicky jaw next time you go.