Tartar: causes, symptoms and prevention

Most people don't pay much attention to the dark or yellowish plaque on their teeth. Well, it's there, and God bless it, it doesn't hurt. In fact, this is very wrong, since this plaque is dangerous and can lead to sad consequences, including the loss of healthy teeth. And the name of this plaque is tartar.

Tartar is a hard deposit on the surface of the teeth that cannot be removed with a toothbrush. These deposits are most often located on the inner front surface of the lower jaw, as well as the lateral surfaces of the upper jaw. They are dark or yellowish in color and are located near the gum.

Causes of tartar formation

As paradoxical as it may sound, tartar often forms due to insufficient or improper oral care. The vast majority of people brush their teeth completely incorrectly, and even less time than required. If everything is in order with oral hygiene, but hard plaque still appears, then you should look for the cause of its formation in improper metabolism, namely, a violation of salt metabolism, because 80% of it consists of mineral substances firmly sealed like cement by food residues, "corpses" of bacteria and their own cells. By the way, a pattern has been noted that tartar forms more often in those people who mainly eat soft food. This can be explained by the fact that when eating hard food, the soft plaque is prevented from hardening by automatic mechanical cleaning of the tooth surface during chewing.

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Formation of tartar

Tartar is formed in place of soft plaque, which for some reason is not removed by a person for several days. At first, the plaque "builds up" covering most of the tooth, while its surface is rough, which leads to even more sticking of food during its consumption. In the soft plaque, there is an active reproduction of bacteria, since the mouth has all the ideal conditions for this process. As a result, we get a kind of "spacesuit" of the most unhealthy substances. It takes only two weeks for the complete transformation of soft plaque into tartar. What does this formation look like? If you carefully examine your oral cavity in the mirror, you will see dark inclusions on the inside of the teeth. This is tartar itself. Its color depends on the food consumed, for example, frequent consumption of tea and coffee colors it dark. In smokers, it acquires a dirty brown tint. And in people who prefer citrus juices in the morning, it will be orange.

Symptoms of tartar

The first alarming symptoms will be the appearance of blood when brushing your teeth. Then there will be sensitivity to external irritants, namely hot, cold and sweet food. Bad breath is explained by a change in the acidity of the oral cavity, as a result of which there is an active reproduction of pathogenic microflora, the activity of which leaves such an unpleasant symptom as a putrid smell. Also, a change in the acidity of the oral cavity gives the "green light" to the formation of caries, which is why caries and tartar are eternal neighbors. If you do not seek help from a doctor at this stage, then literally in a few months, your teeth will become loose. The most dangerous consequences of plaque hardening can be periodontal disease and loss of healthy teeth. This is why you need to visit a dentist every six months for preventive purposes.

Types of tartar

The most common type of tartar is supragingival. It can be seen with the naked eye and is easily removed using new technologies. Subgingival hard plaque is much less common. It is more difficult to diagnose, since it can only be seen with an X-ray. Removing it is also very difficult. Tartar is a very common occurrence in children and adolescents, so the younger generation needs to be taught the rules of oral care, or better yet, sign up for a lecture on dental care at a dental clinic.

Cleaning of tartar

Advertisements on billboards and on the Internet are full of different methods of removing hard plaque. And here an incredible number of different questions arise, starting with the banal: "Is it possible to remove tartar at home", ending with more complex "What methods of removing hard deposits exist?" Now we will try to answer possible questions.

Is it possible to remove tartar at home?

It is possible, but it is highly undesirable. Firstly, mechanical removal of hard deposits using foreign sharp objects such as needles, pins and the like can be fraught with injury to the gums and protective coating of the teeth. As a result, we will get removed tartar, but also a bunch of problems in addition, with which we will still have to go to the dentist. Secondly, attempts to remove hard deposits using this method can take a lot of time and effort.

Can you use hydrogen peroxide for tartar?

No, hydrogen peroxide will not be able to remove hard plaque. It will only whiten it to its natural color, but nothing more. Moreover, this method is also quite dangerous, since if handled carelessly, you can burn the delicate mucous membrane of the gum with hydrogen peroxide. This category also includes a special gel for plaque on teeth. It works on the same principle as hydrogen peroxide, but is safer.

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Will a special toothbrush and toothpaste help against tartar?

Yes and no. A special toothpaste that prevents plaque from hardening will not be able to remove existing tartar, but it will be able to prevent its formation. Therefore, do not blindly believe the advertisements, it is all a PR move. Some people may claim that this particular toothpaste helped get rid of hard deposits. Here, we cannot exclude the factor of mechanical action with a toothbrush, as a result of which the hard plaque can break off on its own.

After reading the answers to the above questions, you will most likely ask yourself the most important one: “How to remove tartar?”

The most correct and less time-consuming method would be to visit a dental clinic, where you will have hard plaque professionally, efficiently and completely painlessly removed. There are several methods for removing hard deposits, namely:

• classical method;
• Air Flow method (sandblasting)
• ultrasonic method;
• laser method;
• chemical method.

All these methods require quite a lot of money, so we also want to tell you about folk remedies for removing hard plaque. They will not remove the already formed tartar, of course, but they will help to avoid its accumulation. So, the following will help to prevent the hardening of plaque:

• brushing your teeth with a strong decoction of walnut branches (be careful, walnuts can make tooth enamel darker);
• brushing teeth and rinsing the mouth with a decoction of linden blossom and sunflower flowers;
• taking a decoction of horsetail collection internally (drink 2-3 times a day for a 20-day course);
• drinking a decoction of bean pods and burdock (drink 3 times a day);
• frequent consumption of lemons and radishes.

Prevention of tartar

Few people want to constantly visit a dentist for the service of removing this unpleasant phenomenon, so we will give the most useful recommendations for preventing the occurrence of hardened plaque build-up. So, in order for this unpleasant phenomenon to never bother you, you need to:

• regularly (at least twice a day) clean your teeth from soft plaque using a toothbrush;
• Before going to bed, rinse your mouth with a special aseptic solution;
• after breakfast, lunch and dinner, rinse your mouth with plain water;
• regularly use special floss to remove interdental plaque;
• change your toothbrush every 3 months and keep it clean;
• chew gum after snacks;
• eat hard foods (corn, carrots, hard apples);
• reduce consumption of sweets and fizzy drinks;
• get rid of bad habits;
• visit the dentist regularly, once every six months, for preventive maintenance.

Following these simple rules, you will forget what tartar is. Be healthy!