How to remove tartar from teeth

Bonking_Mad

The obvious answer is to visit the dentist, however, I have a psychological phobia, and just cannot do it

Therefore, is there an alternative home remedy for removing tartar from teeth?

sallysocks

If you could once get it off, then thorough cleaning EVERY TIME you eat will stop it recurring, constant vigilance is required....you need to be so careful getting it off yourself, the curved pick you can buy from the chemists didn't do it for me - I use a dressmakers unpicking tool, but there's always the danger of breaking off a bit of whatever you are using, and then you could be in a much worse mess. Have you considered hypnosis to overcome your phobia? Some dentists specialise in phobic patients too...please get it sorted.

brook2jack

You know yourself , deep down, that treating yourself is a bonkers idea and sooner or later you will have to see a dentist.

It is much better and easier to find a good sympathetic dentist now when you are not in pain, than to try to find one quickly when you are in trouble perhaps after hacking at your teeth and gums to get tartar off.

Ask friends, family etc. Someone will know a sympathetic dentist , get help for your phobia now before tooth or gums problems give you an emergency when you may have no choice about who you see.

Toothsmith

Not sure if it will help or not - but since the start of May, it is now possible to make an appointment with, and go and be treated by, a dental hygienist directly.

Previously, hygienists could only work on patients who have been examined by a dentist and 'prescribed' a hygienist visit.

This is all very new at the moment, and there will be many dental practice out there who won't have worked out how to incorporate these new rules into their practice's day-to-day operations, (and there are very few - if any - purely hygienist practice's out there yet) So it might take a bit to find a hygienist who will treat you directly, but it is now possible.

I suppose it depends what it is that triggers your phobia. For some, it would be fine to see somebody so long as they knew it wasn't a 'dentist' they were seeing!

If you were able to be seen like that, then you would become familiar with the other staff at the practice, and used to the surroundings, it would only be an extra small step to then go on and see 'the dentist' and get any other issues you might have sorted out.

It really wouldn't be a good idea to start hacking around at tartar yourself though, or finding something to dissolve it off.

That way is far more likely to do some serious damage to your teeth, and make an emergency dental visit almost inevitable.

Bonking_Mad

Thanks for the replies, it's clear the only way to remove tartar is to have it done professionally, however, whilst it may not be painful, on a scale of 1-10, I have a pain threshold of -1, it's more a psychological issue

McKneff

I can understand a fear of dentists, but a fear of hygienist ???

Last time I went to the hygienist, she cleaned my teeth, she knew which ones were sensitive and did then manually, result, brilliant and didn't feel a thing except a good feeling afterwards and a nice clean mouth.

KxMx

I'm using a whitening toothpaste at the moment, and have noticed my tartar build-up go down drastically. This could however be as a result of me brushing more thoroughly to make sure the toothpaste works.

You also need a decent electric/battery powered toothbrush. The only thing manual brushes are good for is household scrubbing!

I can understand a fear of anything dental including hygienists!

McKneff

Can you tell me what pain is felt when a hygienist cleans your teeth, Ive never felt a thing????/

suki1964

McKneff wrote: »

Can you tell me what pain is felt when a hygienist cleans your teeth, Ive never felt a thing????/

Well aren't you the so very lucky one

Just because your experience is so wonderful at least have the common curtesy to accept not every one has the same experience

It's taken myself 4 years of three monthly visits to get to the stage where my bottom teeth can be treated without complete numbing. The top teeth will always need numbing. But that's an improvement on the complete sedation that used to be required

So you have no pain, thats not to say someone else doesn't and trying to belittle them as your posting comes across, you just belittle yourself

heartbreak_star

suki1964 wrote: »

Well aren't you the so very lucky one

Just because your experience is so wonderful at least have the common curtesy to accept not every one has the same experience

It's taken myself 4 years of three monthly visits to get to the stage where my bottom teeth can be treated without complete numbing. The top teeth will always need numbing. But that's an improvement on the complete sedation that used to be required

So you have no pain, thats not to say someone else doesn't and trying to belittle them as your posting comes across, you just belittle yourself

I don't think it was meant nastily, just confusedly...I've never had any pain from a hygienist visit either so can't really comprehend it!

HBS x

tysoup

I found this on amazon, might be worth a try

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005S7TM3Q/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1