Prophylaxis in general serves to prevent infectious diseases, which are intended to prevent the development or spread of diseases. Dental prophylaxis, also called professional dental cleaning (PZR), not only serves to prevent and spread oral diseases. For many patients, healthy, clean teeth and firm, healthy gums are the most important factors. The motivation lies in the fact that a radiant smile, fresh breath and a vital appearance stand for health, attractiveness, self-confidence and success. Dental prophylaxis is not only an urgent medical necessity, it has also developed into a regular hygiene measure in today's society.
A professional tooth cleaning should support the daily oral hygiene, because it can never perfectly remove all deposits, even if one brushes teeth so well or works daily with the dental floss. Depending on the extent of your life habits, you will get more or less unsightly and porous deposits. Coffee, tea or tobacco in particular cause these deposits, which are very difficult to remove. Much worse is that they can cause bad breath, caries, gum inflammation and even periodontitis in connection with mineralized plaque (so-called tartar).
For these reasons you should let the professional do it at least 2 times a year. Experience shows, however, that demanding and hygiene-conscious patients even want such treatment more than twice a year. Especially in today's business life, a well-groomed appearance is of utmost importance, which is why the period between prophylaxis treatments is shortened individually depending on your lifestyle. These are carried out so gently that even a close-meshed rhythm does not harm the teeth and the periodontium, on the contrary.
An individual prophylaxis, as the name suggests, is individually tailored to the needs of the patient. For this reason it requires a trained and particularly qualified specialist. A dental hygienist meets these requirements by far, she has a corresponding additional training, which in contrast to the prophylaxis assistant a larger treatment and competence spectrum ascribes to her. The oral hygiene of our patients can thus be optimally monitored and optimised. The recording of findings, diagnosis, therapy and aftercare are among the tasks of the dental hygienist. Your first visit to our DH's will therefore take about 1 1/2 hours. The further appointments, if necessary, are usually shorter and will be adjusted accordingly.
The choice of instruments to be used by the patients is also made individually depending on the situation. It is important that each patient leaves the treatment with a comparably good result. In addition to ultrasound instruments, piezo instruments, hand scalers or hand curettes, an air flow can be used under certain circumstances, which can gently remove even the most stubborn discolorations. After a final thorough polishing of all teeth, the enamel is hardened by fluoridation. The patient's motivation and instructions on how to carry out his or her individual daily oral hygiene correctly are an important part of a professionally carried out individual prophylaxis.
The statutory health insurance funds do not yet cover the costs of such treatment. However, since numerous studies have shown that oral inflammatory foci have direct effects on the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and even on the increased incidence of rheumatic diseases, a change will take place here in the near future. However, individual prophylaxis will have to be paid privately for as long as this is the case. Between 120 and 200 ? is computed for this depending upon number of the teeth and expenditure of time.
The prophylactic treatment is very often combined with the check-up at the dentist, this is also useful, if you wish, mention this when making an appointment. You also have the option of taking part in a prophylaxis or UPT recall. If desired, you will be informed by SMS, email or post when it is time to arrange your next appointment.
The regular visit to the dentist with the use of a PZR in combination with a good oral hygiene at home gives the greatest possible security to keep teeth and gums healthy and functional in the long run.
