Hygiene Support Visits

At Illume we don’t speak merely of scaling and polishing – there is so much more to your regular recalls than that.

We know that the truth is that having us simply scale and polish your teeth every six months is not necessarily going to ensure freedom from dental disease and teeth for life. We also know that dental diseases are a complex interaction between many factors, some of which can be controlled or eliminated but some of which are specific to an individual’s genetic make up over which we have no control. Both gum disease and tooth decay can vary in their activity at different times in our lives and even vary in different parts of the same mouth. It is also widely believed that gum disease in particular can have an effect on overall health.

So when we see you for a recall visit we are carrying out some or all of the following:

  • checking, measuring and recording plaque levels to see how well you are carrying out your responsibility for maintaining your dental hygiene
  • checking for recurrence of disease, both gum disease and tooth decay
  • updating our risk assessment (looking at factors that can make it more likely for dental disease to develop or persist)
  • determining a recall interval for you – although we see many people every six months we also see some more or less often according to individual need
  • treating any localized flare ups
  • removing as far as possible the bacteria that have migrated back under the gum line…..remember, your aim is to clean away the bacteria above the gum line
  • applying antibacterial agents if appropriate
  • making recommendations and adjustments in your daily home care routine and offering dietary advice

Oh, and we are also cleaning your teeth as well of course!

So it’s worth thinking of it like this………the scaling and polishing is not the main course – think of it more as the after dinner mint!