Dental Cleaning

Routine dental cleanings are important to maintaining good oral hygiene. Professional cleaning by a hygienist can remove mineralized plaque that may develop even with careful brushing and flossing, particularly in areas that are difficult to reach. A cleaning is recommended once every 6 months.

You can expect your dental cleaning to last between 30 minutes and an hour. A licensed dental hygienist will do the cleaning, and one of our doctors will come in for an exam at the end. Most people find that dental cleanings are painless, and do not cause any discomfort.

There are two important steps to a dental cleaning. The first step is scaling the teeth. This is where the hygienist will remove plaque and tartar from tooth surfaces. This can be performed by hand or with electric scalers depending on the hygienist’s preference. The second step includes polishing to remove any final plaque and buff the teeth. Polishers generally have several different sized heads to clean hard to reach places.