dental question

I went to my dentist yesterday for a cleaning, the hygienist did the cleaning with a distilled water stream, she did'n't use a pick, she said that the water stream cleaned better. She put the tool in my mouth that helps with the water being sprayed in my mouth, but that didn't help much as I was gagging. She then used the paste to polish my teeth, I feel like my teeth aren't clean, it was the worst cleaning I ever had. Is that how they are cleaning teeth today?

Also, the upper right side of my mouth has an implant, I have a little pocket above the implant that I have had for a long time, it is hard to keep clean, she squeezed the pocket and said there is some pus. I was supposed to always try to clean that pocket, which is hard, this hygienist said to use 1/2 t. of bleach to 16 oz. of water to shoot it into the pocket. I am not going to use bleach, I will use peroxide, I am surprised at the bleach. Has anyone ever used bleach in that matter? Any thoughts on this hygienist?

Liz

Liz - Did the hygienist call the instrument an ultrasonic scaler or "cavitron" ? That's been a common scaling instrument for many decades. I'm not aware that it uses distilled water as the unit I had was hooked up to the office's water supply. That said, for years, many offices have done cleanings or prophylaxis by ultrasonic methods. I preferred hand-scaling and resorted to the cavitron only when there was a large accumulation of old calculus.. or heavy staining...ie, remove that and then do the hand-scaling for refining before polishing. Most patients don't really enjoy ultrasonic scaling.

As for the pocket by the implant... that does need to be resolved. Never heard of using bleach. The medicinal strength peroxide (not for hair bleaching) would work... and the typical recommendation is to 'swish' vigorously and regularly with the antimicrobial, prescription formulation called Peridex or chlorhexidine gluconate. You can also just deliver that liquid by Q-tip to the pocket area with applied pressure to be sure it reaches the bottom of the pocket. That way, you don't have to tolerate the taste, etc. Peridex is commonly prescribed after surgical dental procedures to help healing and avoid infections. Be aware that a pocket by an implant is serious as if it becomes too deep, it can affect the bone around the implant and that's not good.

It could be that as office practices 'evolve', the use of the ultrasonic for scaling is replacing hand-scaling because of speed. However, that's not the case with the care in my dental office. If that happens, I'll be looking for another office.

Good luck with that, Liz.

Jackie

This was a new girl, she was quite young, she was not very friendly because I got caught in a traffic jam on the way there, the traffic was moving extremely slow and it made me late.

The water that she used wasn't real forceful, just water, she said that water cleans the teeth better than using the scaler, all that water kept gagging me, they usually use their pick to check around the teeth, she didn't do that. Then she quickly polished my teeth. She was in a hurry because I was late, I was the last one. I needed an x-ray on that implant, she said to me I only have time to either polish your teeth or take an xray, she said what did I want to do. I said to polish my teeth and then I made another appt. to get the xray and to see the dentist that I always had seen in that offfice for about 25 years would be there.

My dentist has sold the dental business to a young woman, who only has 6 years experience, he still works there so I go if I have a problem and see him. But this experience yesterday was not good. I live about an hour away from Ann Arbor where his office is. But I have never had such a rude and terrible cleaning experience, I will never go back to her, I may have to look around for a new dentist which is hard because I have all my past dental records with this dentist and I do like him..

Jackie are those two antimicrobial by prescription?

Liz

Sorry Liz - yes.. the Peridex and chlorhexidine gluconate are the same and it does require a prescription.
Why not just try the medicinal peroxide first... easy, fewer chemicals to add to your body and certainly less costly.
You can always go the Rx route if you aren't making progress. The Xray will show the extent of the pocketing as will
the probing the dentist will do.

Now... about your being late etc... I guess times have really changed. Sorry for your experience with the youngster.
(I won't share what my response would have been) But, I agree with you about changing. A cleaning costs far too much these days to have a rush-job. That's really unfortunate. Not certain why the dentist would think that's acceptable to treat his patients that way.

Good luck with the xray followup.

Jackie

Since you got 1/2 of a cleaning, then only pay 1/2 of normal price?