Good oral hygiene starts at home, though it needs to be supplemented by regular visits to your dentist. Steps you can take to prevent tooth decay and gum disease include:
Thorough brushing
Brush at least twice daily using a soft-bristle toothbrush and an ADA-accepted fluoride toothpaste. This helps prevent tooth decay, gum disease, and the need for costly cosmetic or restorative dentistry in the future. Replace your brush every two to three months.
Proper flossing
Flossing is crucial to the health of your teeth and gums and the prevention of gum disease. When flossing, use an 18-inch strand of floss. Ease the floss between each tooth; then, sweep it up and down several times while curving around the tooth at the gum line. Don’t forget to floss behind your last tooth and to floss bridges and artificial teeth with the aid of a floss threader.
Exposure to all sources of radiation — including the sun, minerals in the soil, appliances in your home, and dental X-rays — can damage the body’s tissues and cells and can lead to the development of cancer in some instances. Fortunately, the dose of radiation you are exposed to during the taking of X-rays is extremely small.
Root canal or endodontic treatment is a process whereby inflamed or dead pulp is removed from the inside of the tooth, enabling a tooth that was causing pain to be retained.
Dental pulp is the soft tissue in the canal that runs through the centre of a tooth. Once a tooth is fully formed it can function normally without its pulp and be kept indefinitely.
After removing the pulp, the root canals are cleaned, sterilised and shaped to a form that can be completely sealed with a filling material to prevent further infection. The treatment can take several appointments, depending on how complex the tooth is, and how long the infection takes to clear.
Subsequently a crown or complex restoration to restore or protect the tooth may be a necessary recommendation, as a tooth after undergoing treatment may be more likely to fracture.
The adjacent teeth are not damaged or cut in any way. It helps to prevent bone loss. Implants are also used to stabilise loose dentures or even replace them with fixed bridges.
A bridge is an appliance permanently fixed in the mouth to replace missing teeth. It uses remaining teeth to support the new artificial tooth or teeth.
A bridge is made up of two crowns for the teeth on either side of the gap –these two anchoring teeth are called abutment teeth– and a false tooth/teeth rigidly attached in between. The false teeth are called pontics. The bridge can be made from gold, alloys, porcelain or a combination of these materials.
An enamel-bonded bridge uses a metal or porcelain framework to which the artificial teeth are attached, and then resin bonded to supporting teeth.
Dental crowns (also sometimes referred to as ‘dental caps’ or ‘tooth caps’) cover over and encase the tooth on which they are cemented. Dentists use crowns when rebuilding broken or decayed teeth, as a way to strengthen teeth and and as method to improve the cosmetic appearance of a tooth. Crowns are made in a dental laboratory by a dental technician who uses moulds of your teeth made by your dentist.
How often you go for a dental exams depends on your oral health needs. The goal is to catch small problems early. For many people, this means a dental exam every six months. Your dentist may suggest that you visit more or less often depending on how well you care for your teeth and gums, problems you have that need to be checked or treated, how fast tartar builds up on your teeth, and so on.
With Philips Zoom, your teeth will be visibly whiter in one day. With Zoom in-office, you will achieve up to eight shades whiter in 45 minutes. With Zoom at-home, when used as instructed, you will achieve the same great results in one-two weeks, depending on concentration of formulation and wear time you select.
Whitening treatments help to reduce existing stains, but through consumption of coffee, soft drinks or just through natural aging, your teeth may eventually become discolored again. Maintenance whitening can help combat recurring discoloration. Only Philips Zoom at-home whitening products include ACP, which has been shown to help reduce whitening fade-back.
Over-the-counter whitening products are not customized to your needs. With Philips Zoom, the whitening process is tailored to your needs by your dentist, with custom-fitted trays for at-home treatments or just the right light intensity and duration in the dentist’s office.
The most common side effect is tooth and gum sensitivity. Your dentist is your best resource to ensure that you are a good candidate for whitening and that you are using the right concentration of whitening formula. Philips Zoom at-home whitening products have two mild desensitizing agents, potassium nitrate and Amorphous Calcium Phosphate (ACP), to minimize tooth sensitivity.
Yes. Clinical studies have shown that whitening your teeth with carbamide or hydrogen peroxide under the supervision of a dental professional is safe for teeth and gums.