Dental Hygiene

An effective daily dental hygiene routine is essential to keeping plaque – the primary cause of gum disease – at bay. It will help you:

  • Ensure that you have strong, healthly teeth and gums for many years to come
  • Enhance the effectiveness of any gum treatment you might require
  • Maintain your gum health and any restored teeth you have.

This is where our highly experienced hygienists can help. They will look at your current oral hygiene to make it as efficient and effective as possible. 

The critical regions we often overlook when cleaning our teeth are the gaps between them, and the areas just under the gum line. This is where plaque can take hold and lead to gum disease and is far more important than the tooth surfaces, which almost take care of themselves.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I maintain good dental hygiene?

By following an effective daily dental hygiene routine at home, at the interval recommended for you, and taking on board relevant dietary advice.

Can poor dental hygiene cause heart disease?

Yes. A number of cardiovascular conditions such as atherosclerosis (clogged arteries) and stroke have been linked to inflammation caused by oral bacteria.

Why is dental hygiene important?

Maintaining good dental hygiene will go a long way towards reducing the risk of gum disease. This not only affects your mouth and teeth: if associated bacteria are allowed to enter your bloodstream, they can cause serious problems throughout your body.

It is also proven that poor dental health can contribute to cardiovascular disease and strokes. Poor gum health in pregnant women is associated with an increased risk of pre-term and low birth weight babies.

What should I expect at my first dental hygiene appointment?

Our hygienist will check your teeth and gums, assess and record the level of your oral health. They will also discuss and advise on diet, how to establish a good oral health regime at home, and how best to use relevant tools (brushes, interdental aids etc).

Top Brushing Tips for Adults

 

Brush your teeth for 2 minutes, twice a day. The British Dental Association recommend once before bedtime and one other time of the day.

Use an oscillating and rotating electric toothbrush: these are clinically proven to remove more plaque than manual toothbrushes

It is important to angle the bristles at 45 degrees to your gums

Use a regular fluoride toothpaste with no less than 1350ppm fluoride (you’ll find this information on the tube, usually under ‘ingredients’)

Don’t rinse your mouth out after brushing otherwise you wash away all the fluoride toothpaste and minimise its benefits

Use inter-dental cleaning aids, such as TePe brushes, to remove the plaque and bacteria from in-between your teeth. It is important to do this every day as part of your oral hygiene routine, as this is where around 90% of dental problems appear

Reducing the bacteria levels in your mouth lowers the risk of tooth decay and gum disease

To help prevent cavities, try to keep all sugars to meal times. If you do snack between meals, stay with healthy options such as cucumber, carrot sticks, cheese chunks & nuts

Make regular appointments with your dentist and hygienist: preventing problems is better than curing them!

Quality Assurance

Our aim is to treat everyone as an individual, whether private or NHS, and make your experience here as comfortable as possible.

  • We always make the time to listen to your questions and concerns with kindness and courtesy
  • We encourage all our staff to regularly augment and update their knowledge and skills
  • We offer appointments outside working hours, including Saturdays (one a month), and do our utmost to offer same day appointments for our regular patients

Complaints Procedure

We take your complaints extremely seriously, and always try to ensure that our patients are pleased with their experience of our service.

  • Whenever patients complain, we deal with them courteously and promptly to resolve any issues as quickly as possible
  • The people responsible for dealing with your complaints here are either the principal, Helen Harris, or the Practice Manager, Julie Miles
  • Our aim is to deal with your complaint in the way we would want our complaint about a service to be handled. We learn from every mistake we make, and respond to patients’ concerns in a caring and sensitive way.

Duty Of Candour Statement

Hoo Dental Care strives to be open, honest and transparent with our patients at all times.

If, at any time, you (as the patient or the patient’s legal guardian) feel we have not been, please let Helen Harris, the Principal Dentist/Director, or the Practice Manager, Julie Miles, know as soon as possible.

Our undertaking to you is that in the unlikely event of anything untoward happening, we will listen to you, investigate your issues appropriately and provide you with an answer as soon as is practicably possible.

All our staff are aware of their individual duties in these matters and are full supported by Helen Harris, the practice owner.

If you’re not satisfied with the result of our procedure, you can take up your grievance with any of the following bodies:

The General Dental Council
37 Wimpole Street
London
W1M 8DQ
Tel: 0845 2224141

(Private Patients)
Dental Complaints Service   

Stephenson House
2 Cherry Orchard Road
Croydon
CR0 6BA
Tel: 0845 6120540

(NHS patients)
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombandsman
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
Tel: 0345 015 4033

CQC Customer Service Centre
Citygate
Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4PA
Tel: 0300 061 6161