What is a Dental Hygienist?
What is a hygienist?
Dental hygienists are specially trained to work with the dentist to give care to patients.
They play an important part in dental health care and are mainly concerned with gum health – showing people correct home care and helping to keep the teeth and gums healthy.
What is the role of a dental hygienist?
The hygienist’s main role is to professionally clean the patient’s teeth. This is called ‘scaling and cleaning’. However, perhaps their most important role is showing patients the best way to keep their teeth free of plaque. Plaque is a sticky coating that forms constantly on your teeth. This plaque can cause breakdown of your teeth and gums and lead to dental decay and gum disease. Over time the soft plaque hardens to form a scale called ‘calculus’ that can only be removed by a hygienist or dentist. Long standing scale can lead to gum recession, bad breath and gum disease.
Dental hygienists can also take dental x-rays. The dentist will use these to help diagnose problems and determine if further treatment is needed.
They also give advice on diet and preventing dental decay.
Does every practice have a hygienist?
Not all practices have a hygienist. However, more of them now offer this as part of the service to patients, using part-time and full-time hygienists
Why doesn’t the dentist do this work?
Some dentists will do this type of work. However, many now realise that the hygienist has been specially trained to carry out scaling and polishing and can spend longer with you. They are also expert at teaching you how to look after your teeth and gums. Often the hygienist will spend a number of appointments getting the gums healthy ready for the dentist to treat decay and dental disease and to restore damaged or unattractive teeth.
