How do I know if I should see denatal hygienist?

kuepper

last time I had a check up the dentist said he didn't have time to do a 'scale and polish' but if I felt I should have one book an appointment with the hygienist. I'd never been offered a polish before anyway for about 20 yrs but he'd usually water jetted plaque off (which is what I assume he meant by 'scale') whenever I had a check up. So I didn't bother with hygienist as I use tepe brushes morning and night which has seemed to control plaque ok as far as I know. Today (6 mths later) he gave me what I'd say was a cursory water jet treatment then said IF I FELT I needed to see hygienist to book an appointment. I felt like I was being pressurised into doing that but how do I know if I NEED to see hygienist I'm not a dentist!? I thought he's said it's only £9.50 so I thought I'd give it a go at that price until the receptionist said I'd misheard and it was £49.50!


What is going on? How do I know if I NEED a hygienist treatment? Is this just a general policy everywhere, a scam to generate income?

brook2jack

If you have signs of gum disease then you must be offered treatment under the NHS .

However if you have staining or tartar and no gum disease then you may be offered a hygienist appointment as this is cosmetic treatment .

roddydogs

A hygenist wont remove staining, thats whitening even dearer.

Toothsmith

roddydogs wrote: »

A hygenist wont remove staining, thats whitening even dearer.

Depends what sort of staining.

Tea/ coffee stains on the surface (Extrinsic) staining can easily be polished off by a hygienist - and this really is the majority of what people call 'staining'.

More intrinsic staining, which happens more slowly in smokers, and more committed wine/coffee drinkers will, as you say, need whitening treatments. These are expensive, but effective, particularly if the habits that caused it are then controlled as well.

roddydogs

Well my hygenist dosent affect the staining, and it costs nearly £60 perhaps I should complain?
Whitening wont whiten false teeth or caps.

Toothsmith

Then it's probably a more intrinsic staining. As I said - there are types and degrees of staining. Your type is probably not the type that will just polish off. That's not the case in the majority of people.

You're right that whitening won't have any effect on crowns or white fillings - but that's a discussion a dentist will have with a patient before doing the treatment, if it's relevant.

kuepper

I'm not worried about stains, whitening etc and don't want any cosmetic treatment. It just doesn't seem right it's left up to me to know and decide if I need more plaque removal than the dentist does as part of his check up. How am I supposed to know? I feel like I'm being blackmailed to go to the hygienist

MovingForwards

What do you see when you look in the mirror at the inside of your teeth? Same colour as the front or yellow?

If same colour then appointment is optional.

If yellow, make the appointment. Although I would hope your dentist would have said he recommended you make the appointment!

elsien

Ask your dentist the direct question.

Is he recommending the treatment due to clinical need, in which case why is he not doing it as part of the treatment plan or if there is not a current clinical need what are the specific reasons it is being recommended?

That's what I did, and I got a much straighter answer.

Undervalued

elsien wrote: »

Ask your dentist the direct question.

Is he recommending the treatment due to clinical need, in which case why is he not doing it as part of the treatment plan or if there is not a current clinical need what are the specific reasons it is being recommended?

That's what I did, and I got a much straighter answer.

Exactly.

I am sure the vast majority of NHS dentists are entirely professional. Sadly I am also sure some can't resist the temptation to generate some private work, when there is a grey area between medical need and purely cosmetic!

Even when the intentions are honourable, there must be some borderline cases where two dentists would have different views.

brook2jack

It is even more complicated than that.

Much research has shown there to be little health benefit to routine scaling. This is because unless a patient changes their oral hygiene habits tartar starts to reform within 48 hours. In other words unless a patient starts to clean more effectively their guns will be just as unhealthy 2 days after scaling.

Unfortunately at least 75% of the population do not clean effectively.

There is alot of evidence to back up the view that no treatment should be provided until the patient improves their oral care. However it can also be argued that removing the larger tartar deposits will make it easier to clean.

So it can be argued that a significant part of the population will not change their cleaning habits yet want scaling and stain removal . In the new NHS dental pilots until they improve their cleaning and diet they will not be given any other treatment , except to alleviate pain , and instruction in oral hygiene.