Removal of tartar with ultrasound

Nowadays, it is difficult to find a person who has never visited a dentist for help. Dental health depends on many factors. Heredity, ecology, healthy balanced nutrition and bad habits play a huge role. But these are all global problems that are difficult to deal with at once. Are there universal methods for maintaining dental health? Yes, there is! This is proper oral hygiene and timely removal of hardened plaque. In this article, we will talk about removing tartar using ultrasound.

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Indications for the removal of tartar using ultrasound

With insufficient or improper oral hygiene, soft plaque begins to harden, turning into a kind of "shell" of the tooth, which does not allow nutrients to penetrate the tooth enamel, and also mechanically pushes back the soft part of the gum, exposing the root of the tooth. All this leads to instability, and as a result, the loss of healthy teeth. In addition, the presence of hard deposits on the teeth disrupts the acid-base balance in the mouth, which leads to an increased likelihood of caries, as well as bad breath. In order to avoid such a negative impact, it is necessary to remove hard deposits in a timely manner. The ideal method is to remove hard plaque using ultrasound. Why? Because thanks to the latest technology, this procedure has become virtually painless, and the cost of its implementation is not so high. How is this procedure performed? First, before the procedure, the dentist carefully examines the patient's oral cavity for damage to the teeth, caries, gum inflammation, if necessary, prescribes an additional X-ray examination, after which he makes a conclusion about the possibility of performing the procedure. The removal of tartar itself is performed by a special device that is equipped with a nozzle - a scaler, generating high-frequency ultrasonic vibrations of different ranges. The scaler looks like an L-shaped bent wire, thinned at the end. When the scaler acts on tartar, the latter bounces off the tooth enamel without damaging it. Some dentists before the procedure, for convenience, treat the surface of the teeth with a special fluorescent solution, which colors hard deposits in a bright blue, crimson or green color. Most often, the procedure for removing tartar using ultrasound is absolutely painless, but patients with sensitive gums note slight discomfort. If you are so afraid of pain, then this procedure can be performed under local anesthesia.

Advantages of Ultrasonic Tartar Removal

Unlike its predecessor – manual cleaning of tartar with a hook, which seems “brutal”, the removal of hard deposits by ultrasonic method has many advantages. Previously, after visiting the dentist and such a memorable procedure of removing hardened plaque, the patient could not gather the strength of spirit for a long time to come to this “farrier” again. Thanks to the new method of cleaning tartar with ultrasound, the procedure has become virtually painless, more gentle to the surface of the teeth and less traumatic for the gums. With this procedure, it has become possible to remove not only supragingival, but also subgingival tartar, the removal of which previously turned into real torture. Also, usually after the procedure of removing hardened plaque with ultrasound, a special cleaning of the teeth is carried out using the Air Flow system, which gives the teeth a lighter shade and prevents the subsequent rapid hardening of soft plaque. Another important positive aspect of removing tartar with ultrasound is its relatively low cost and availability. This procedure is performed in most large dental clinics, as well as in all private dental offices.

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Disadvantages of ultrasonic tartar removal

The method of ultrasonic removal of hard deposits has practically no disadvantages. Of the small disadvantages, one can note slight discomfort when using a scaler, slight trauma to the gum tissue when removing subgingival calculus and the presence of some contraindications described above. At the same time, the pain that occurs when removing hard deposits can be prevented by using local anesthesia, having previously checked it for an allergic reaction.

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Contraindications to the removal of tartar using ultrasound

Although the removal of tartar using ultrasound is a fairly simple procedure, there are contraindications. To begin with, it is worth noting that this procedure should only be started with healthy or fully treated teeth. Also, you cannot remove hard plaque if there is inflammation of the oral mucosa and gums, ulcers, or stomatitis. Pregnant women should be careful when performing this procedure, as the process itself can cause great stress, which can negatively affect the development of the child. Ultrasonic cleaning is also not recommended for children. It is completely contraindicated to remove hardened plaque if:

• the presence of pacemakers and implants in the patient (since it is not known for certain how a particular device may react to ultrasound simulation);
• the presence of braces and orthopedic structures (when exposed to ultrasound, they may weaken or even collapse);
• disturbances in heart rhythm (removal of solid deposits is inevitably psychological stress, so people with a weak heart should not undergo this procedure);
• asthma attacks (the procedure can cause laryngospasm, which can lead to an asthma attack);
• severe forms of epilepsy (ultrasound removal of tartar can provoke an attack);
• complicated forms of diabetes mellitus (patients with this disease have impaired blood clotting, which can lead to prolonged bleeding and an increased likelihood of gum inflammation);
• infectious diseases (AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis);
• acute respiratory viral infection;
• the presence of oncological diseases (with oncological diseases, the immune system is weakened, which can lead to a long-term restoration of the gums and a possible inflammatory process on them);
• difficulty breathing through the nose.

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Cost of the procedure for removing tartar using ultrasound

Today, most modern dental clinics provide tartar removal using ultrasound. The cost of this procedure varies depending on the type of clinic and region. For example, residents of Kyiv in private clinics can pay from 400 to 800 UAH for tartar removal using ultrasound + Air Flow cleaning, while residents of other regions can use this procedure a little cheaper for only 250 - 500 UAH. If you want to save money, it is better to contact a good state dental clinic, where you will get your hard plaque cleaned for a more reasonable price, but you will have to wait in line for this.

Reviews after removing tartar using ultrasound

After the procedure of ultrasonic tartar removal, tooth enamel more easily accepts fluoride and calcium found in food and toothpaste, so this procedure should be performed regularly, but not more often than once every six months. The color of the enamel becomes lighter by at least one tone, bad breath disappears, and the likelihood of caries is reduced. It has been noted that after the removal of dental plaque using ultrasound, the likelihood of new tartar deposition decreases.