The minimum number of thorough cleanings you need per year is 365! Standard insurance plans will cover 2 thorough prophylaxis (healthy mouth cleanings) per year. If you are just looking to stop by for your “2 free cleanings from your insurance company” we would like you to understand that our office protocol is to extend our services beyond biannual teeth cleanings.

We believe that it is our professional responsibility to provide educational tools to our patients. We will teach you how to keep your mouth healthy between your professional cleanings. We want to share the responsibility with you rather than carrying the responsibility for you. Often, we find that patients are unaware of their role in keeping their mouth healthy. Many offices do not teach preventative care, they monitor disease progress and rarely teach patients how to stop decay from spreading throughout their mouth. The simplest way to stop decay is to make sure that you are adequately removing plaque. At your cleaning appointments our hygienists will measure plaque and bleeding levels and identify the areas where you are missing plaque. They may even spend time evaluating your brushing and flossing techniques and then teach you how to keep those hard-to-reach areas clean.

Kayla and Johana love to watch patients brush their teeth at the beginning of the appointment! After brushing, they will have patients use a plaque disclosing tablet to determine the areas where the patient needs to spend more time brushing and flossing. The plaque disclosing tablet will turn plaque pink or purple. Light pink indicates plaque that has been on the tooth surface for less than 24 hours and dark pink or purple indicates plaque that has been on the tooth surface for more than 24 hours. Once the plaque has been disclosed, Kayla and Johana will show you how to remove the plaque that you are leaving behind while brushing and flossing.

We are here to make sure you know how to care for your mouth the same way that our hygienists care for your mouth. An appointment with Kayla or Johana every 6 months will not make your teeth whiter or healthier, what you do between your appointments will. Let’s team up and remove plaque before it causes decay!