Calling all dental staff

George_Bray

Can anyone please advise on the products used at dental surgeries for the purpose of polishing teeth, when you go for a normal 'scale and polish'. I'm interested in trying DIY, at least for my front teeth.

I assume the pastes and 'polishing pads' (or whatever) are not prescription medicines or anything.

I should be grateful if you would indicate brands and anything else on the packets. What exactly do I need to buy in order to have a go myself? I doubt if this is a life-threatening process or if I am in danger of sanding right through the enamel, but any words of caution would also be of interest, as applicable.

Many thanks
Regards
George

Toothsmith

Is this a wind up

I saw a phrase somewhere - maybe even on someones signature on this forum, that says

"There is no such thing as a stupid question."

I would like to see whoever said that define this question


What were you intending to use to make the polishing pads go round and round? Your Black & Decker? Or do you want a medical grade oil free compressor (OIRO £2000) dental cart unit (About £3000) air motor (£500-700 depending on type) polishing handpiece (£65 for a cheap one £300 for one that will last more than a month or two - but if your only doing yourself (And you'll need a dental degree or hygienists diploma if you're not) the cheap one should do. Plus to get rid of the hard tartar you'd need a set of hand instruments at about £150 depending on quality, and a tool to sharpen them, which itself is a skilled job. And maybe an ultrasonic scaler which would fit on your dental cart, and cost you £550 plus different tips at about £60 each. (And it's a bummer when you accidentaly throw the fiddly little things in the bin!)

Did you want to sterilise your stuff properly? Or just put it through the washing up afterwards? If you did want to go the whole hog you would need an ultrasonic bath (Medical grade, not the jewellery sort) at about £750 and an autoclave (Pressure cooker sterilizer thing) at £3000 ish

Fortunately, all these things are only available through dental suppliers. So you're not likely to get your hands on them easily.

Then you get your polishes. These are quite abrasive, and you do need to know what you're doing with them. The enamel in the area you're talking about is approx. 0.5mm thick. So yes, you can sand through it very quickly. A bigger problem though is heat build up. You can fry the nerve in the middle of a tooth in less than 2 seconds if you get it too hot.

Even if your dentist is private, a scale and polish 2 or 3 times a year really is cheap in comparison.

trace-j

Toothsmith wrote:

Is this a wind up

I saw a phrase somewhere - maybe even on someones signature on this forum, that says

"There is no such thing as a stupid question."

I would like to see whoever said that define this question

lol, and now another stupid question are you a dentist, are you private?

Toothsmith

trace-j wrote:

lol, and now another stupid question are you a dentist, are you private?

Yes and Yes

And proud to be both!

Bossyboots

trace-j wrote:

lol, and now another stupid question are you a dentist, are you private?

Actually that was two questions, but neither of them are stupid if you did not already know the answers.

George_Bray

Toothsmith wrote:

Is this a wind up
I saw a phrase somewhere - maybe even on someones signature on this forum, that says"There is no such thing as a stupid question." I would like to see whoever said that define this question

Thank you for the helpful elements of your response, including some price indicators and other food for thought.

I too saw a phrase somewhere, which said: "It's not what you say, but how you say it." The opening phrases of your response will be taken by many as simply saying: "What a stupid question". And I'm afraid I don't take kindly to that. Or to your pouring ridicule and derision on my idea by suggesting I might use a Black and Decker drill.

Where there's a will, there's a way. If a nurse can learn to clean teeth, so can I. It's clearly not in your business interest to encourage even a very partial move to DIY dental care.

I might be able to adapt something as cheap and simple as an electric toothbrush to provide movement for the polishing pads. I don't know if this might be possible, until I get sight of some polishing pads. It might take longer than, and not be as thorough as, using a professional tool, but it should hopefully keep my teeth cleaner than by using any ordinary toothpaste. This thought of mine is only at the stage of a 'feasibility study' and fact-finding. I'm not put off by anything I've heard so far. I'm confident there are cost-effective work-arounds which will not involve the purchase of a dental cart and other gear costing well over £5000.

I'm keen to learn more about ultrasonic scalers.

I don't want to sterilise anything, thank you very much. Does everyone put their toothbrush through an ultrasonic bath or autoclave unit every day? Of course not.

I'm grateful for your warning about the need for great care in carrying out the polishing process.

Regards
George

Toothsmith

George_Bray wrote:

I too saw a phrase somehere, which said: "It's not what you say, but how you say it." The opening phrases of your response will be taken by many as simply saying: "What a stupid question". And I'm afraid I don't take kindly to that.

That's exactly what I was saying George.

George_Bray wrote:

Or to your pouring ridicule and derision on my idea by suggesting I might use a Black and Decker drill.

Come on George, you're a troll aren't you (One who stalks discussion forums stiring up controversy for the sake of it) I've seen some of your deleted posts!!!!

George_Bray wrote:

It's clearly not in your business interest to encourage even a very partial move to DIY dental care.

I don't mind charging nutters who've tried stuff like this to put things right again providing they don't mind paying. Frankly I've got better things to do with my day though.

The whole point of preventative dentistry is to help people look after their own teeth effectively!

George_Bray wrote:

I might be able to adapt something as cheap and simple as an electric toothbrush to provide movement for the polishing pads. I don't know if this might be possible, until I get sight of some polishing pads. It might take longer than, and not be as thorough as, using a professional tool, but it should hopefully keep my teeth cleaner than by using any ordinary toothpaste. This thought of mine is only at the stage of a 'feasibility study' and fact-finding. I'm not put off by anything I've heard so far. I'm confident there are cost-effective work-arounds which will not involve the purchase of a dental cart and other gear costing well over £5000.

You should talk to the people shaping NHS dental policy at the moment. It's a whole department full of people with a similar mindset to you!

You go for it George. I just hope you don't live anywhere near me!

Ted_Hutchinson

The problem with giving advice online is that one can never be sure if one is dealing with a post from someone like this
BBC NEWS | Health | 'I took my teeth out with pliers'

Or an idea such as this
BBC News | HEALTH | DIY dentistry to the rescue

Because of the potential dangers involved in giving anything which might be regarded as "Medical Advice" the site policy is that it should be avoided at all costs.

We are very fortunate to have someone such as "toothsmith" who is prepared to give us the benefit of his professional knowledge. I think he has shown remarkable patience in explaining the potential pitfalls of DIY dentistry.

Savvy_Sue

Ted_Hutchinson wrote:

We are very fortunate to have someone such as "toothsmith" who is prepared to give us the benefit of his professional knowledge. I think he has shown remarkable patience in explaining the potential pitfalls of DIY dentistry.

Hear hear Ted, and if the OP would care to look at some of Toothsmith's other replies to people he would appreciate that his answers are full, informative, outlining WHY he is private not NHS, and why the NHS service is not what it should be.

There are ways of keeping your teeth in better nick than just cleaning with a bog standard toothbrush between scales and polishes, like daily flossing, possibly sonic toothbrush - not sure what TS thinks of those, I've heard varying views - and brushing properly, maybe need a session with a hygienist. But anyone - including me! - putting anything more powerful than an electric toothbrush into my mouth had better know what they're doing!!!

Dronegc_2

I had a scale and polish the other day at my dentists. Thankfully my dentist is still an NHS one (the rest of the dentists have gone Denplan) and I am thankful I had a professional do the work.

As Toothsmith has said, this work needs a trained hand to do it otherwise you'd end up in agony and end up in the dental surgery anyway. There are no home scale & polish kits for one simple reason. It cannot be done at home safely.

terrierlady

Il take the bait, another stupid phrase ; one can always learn something even from the village idiot.
Off subject i know, but with my own grandchildren when unsure of something I said why didn't you ask your teacher at the time to clarify what she meant?
Didnt want to look an idiot was the reply, I think the idiot is the person that doesn't ask or gain the knowledge via perhaps a third person.
Look, Listen and Understand NLP.