.png)
Oral hygiene is the care of the teeth, gums, tongue and the entire oral cavity in general. It is established by adopting four habits: brushing, flossing, rinsing, and regular visits to the dentist and dental hygienist.
​
Possibly when you have gone to the hygienist you have heard them use terms such as dental curettage, scaling and root planning to refer to the different steps of a dental cleaning. All of them are intimately related words, each one has to do with procedures that are carried out during a professional cleaning of the mouth.
These techniques are focused on removing dental tartar, some visible stains, food remains, diseased gums and bacterial plaque that is deposited on the teeth.
​
In addition, they are also intended to polish and prepare the surface of the teeth, once they have been thoroughly cleaned, to decrease the future adhesion of new calculus and debris to the tooth.
​
After the bacterial plaque hardens, when the dental calculus has formed, it is only possible that both the removal of dental tartar and the polishing of the affected areas are carried out by specialists - hygienists, dentists, periodontists - using instruments specially manufactured for this.
​
The objective of these procedures is to reduce the appearance of the most common diseases of the oral cavity, such as cavities and gum diseases such as periodontitis and gingivitis.