What Does a Dental Hygienist Do?

Dental hygienists are registered and certified health professionals who specialize in preventing oral health problems and diseases. They work with individual clients or communities to prevent tooth, gum and mouth diseases and injuries that can affect overall health.


Dental hygiene services are provided to individuals across the age spectrum. Dental hygienists work with patients ranging from parents in pre-natal classes to the elderly in long-term care centres. A work day could involve assessment, planning, implementing and evaluating oral health data and include:
teaching an elementary class about oral health care
counseling a family about oral health
providing fluoride treatments to patients during a dental visit
administering local anaesthetic for dental hygiene or dental treatment
teaching long-term care staff about mouthcare for their clients
working with nurses to prevent sports and playground injuries
screening seniors for signs of oral cancer
performing head, neck and oral examinations
applying pit and fissure sealants to teeth
reviewing literature and conducting research
scaling and rootplaning, and so on

The dental hygiene profession focuses on preventive health care. As a result, many dental hygienists deliver health promotion programs in their community to parent and special needs groups, schools, day cares and long-term seniors' care facilities. Among the programs provided are:
Tobacco Cessation
Sports/Mouthguard Clinics
Well Baby Seminars

What Are Crowns and Bridges?

A crown is used to entirely cover or "cap" a damaged tooth. Besides strengthening a damaged tooth, a crown can be used to improve its appearance, shape or alignment. A crown can also be placed on top of an implant to provide a tooth-like shape and structure for function. Porcelain or ceramic crowns can be matched to the color of your natural teeth. Other materials include gold and metal alloys, acrylic and ceramic. These alloys are generally stronger than porcelain and may be recommended for back teeth. Porcelain bonded to a metal shell is often used because it is both strong and attractive.

What Is Good Oral Hygiene?

Good oral hygiene results in a mouth that looks and smells healthy. This means:
Your teeth are clean and free of debris
Gums are pink and do not hurt or bleed when you brush or floss
Bad breath is not a constant problem

If your gums do hurt or bleed while brushing or flossing, or you are experiencing persistent bad breath, see your dentist. Any of these conditions may indicate a problem.

Your dentist or hygienist can help you learn good oral hygiene techniques and can help point out areas of your mouth that may require extra attention during brushing and flossing.

How Is Good Oral Hygiene Practiced?
Maintaining good oral hygiene is one of the most important things you can do for your teeth and gums. Healthy teeth not only enable you to look and feel good, they make it possible to eat and speak properly. Good oral health is important to your overall well-being.

Daily preventive care, including proper brushing and flossing, will help stop problems before they develop and is much less painful, expensive, and worrisome than treating conditions that have been allowed to progress.

In between regular visits to the dentist, there are simple steps that each of us can take to greatly decrease the risk of developing tooth decay, gum disease and other dental problems. These include:
Brushing thoroughly twice a day and flossing daily
Eating a balanced diet and limiting snacks between meals
Using dental products that contain fluoride, including toothpaste
Rinsing with a fluoride mouthrinse if your dentist tells you to
Making sure that your children under 12 drink fluoridated water or take a fluoride supplement if they live in a non-fluoridated area.