Preventive And Cosmetic Dental Services

Your dentist may offer three categories of dental services, including preventive, restorative, and cosmetic services. 

For many patients, restorative care is frequently the focus since it is used to restore the health of the teeth or gums after a problem arises. However, preventive and cosmetic services are also important.

Here is a bit of information about preventive and cosmetic dental care to help you better understand them:

Preventive Care

Preventive care helps keep the teeth healthy by preventing decay and other issues. The routine cleanings, fluoride treatments, and dental sealants that your dentist provides are all considered preventive. 

Routine Cleanings

Routine cleanings help remove tartar accumulations that could harbor bacteria that cause dental decay and gingival inflammation. During a routine cleaning, your dentist uses a scaler to scrape tartar from the teeth. Tartar accumulates when plaque remains in place for a prolonged period. As the plaque rests undisturbed, it hardens over time and becomes tartar. Since tartar is quite hard, unlike plaque, it must be scraped from the enamel surface using a dental tool. It cannot be brushed away with a toothbrush. 

Fluoride Treatments

Fluoride treatments help prevent cavities by remineralizing the teeth. Cavities develop as acids dissolve the minerals that make up the tooth material. Fluoride helps bring dissolved minerals back to the teeth.

When providing a fluoride treatment, the dentist coats the teeth in a fluoride solution. The fluoride in the product attracts displaced minerals and connects with them to form new tooth material. 

Sealants

Sealants help prevent tooth decay by acting as barriers between acids and the tooth material. The dentist applies the sealants to the chewing surfaces of the teeth in a liquid state. The teeth are then exposed to a bright light to harden the sealants.

Cosmetic Services

Instead of improving the health of the teeth, cosmetic services are offered to improve their appearance. Cosmetic dental services include applications such as dental veneers and teeth whitening, 

Veneers

Dental veneers are tooth-shaped shells of resin or porcelain. The micro-thin devices are cemented to the front of the teeth to hide dental flaws.

Teeth Whitening

Teeth whitening helps improve the color of the teeth. The process is safely performed using a peroxide-based solution that bleaches beverage and food stains from the enamel. To ensure that the teeth achieve their maximum whiteness, the dentist may apply a bright light to the teeth after coating them with the whitening solution. 

To learn more about preventive and cosmetic dental services, schedule a consultation with a local dentist.


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