Will teeth cleaning make the gaps between teeth wider and cause air to leak when speaking?

With the improvement of people's living standards, having white and healthy teeth is no longer a distant dream for most people. Many friends no longer seek help from dentists when they have a toothache. Many people also regard regular visits to the dentist as an indispensable medical care item in daily life. However, they often have a group of common questions that need professional answers, that is: I brush my teeth every morning and evening and rinse my mouth after meals, but why do I still feel that my teeth are constantly growing calculus? When I go to the dentist, they always ask me to wash my teeth. What is teeth washing? Is it necessary to wash your teeth every once in a while? Will the gap between teeth become larger after teeth washing, causing air leakage? Next, let's take a few minutes to answer in detail what is teeth washing and questions related to teeth washing.

Image source: Pixabay

1. What is teeth cleaning? As the name implies, it is to give your teeth a thorough cleaning, a deep cleaning. There are many yellow or even black small stones around the teeth, which are what we commonly call dental calculus. You can feel it by gently licking the area around the teeth with your tongue. Many small stones piled up next to the teeth will squeeze the gums, causing the gums to become red and swollen, and in severe cases, the gums may shrink. At the same time, dental calculus is also one of the fertile grounds for bacteria to breed and multiply wildly. Various bacteria set up camp here, give birth to children here, and excrete waste. Their free and easy life is damaging the health of the hardest substance in our body - the health of teeth. In addition, there are pigments, plaques, etc. on the surface of the teeth. These stains that affect the appearance cannot be removed by daily brushing, so teeth cleaning is very necessary.

2. There are two main ways to clean teeth: ultrasonic cleaning and sandblasting. Ultrasonic cleaning, in simple terms, is to use ultrasonic vibrations to break up the tartar around the teeth and detach it from the teeth. It is mainly for patients with more tartar. Sandblasting, on the other hand, uses high-pressure airflow to spray silica salt sand onto the surface of the teeth to remove the pigments and some invisible plaque on the teeth. It is mainly for patients who like to drink tea, coffee, and smoke. In clinical practice, these two methods are generally used in combination, which can not only effectively untie the shackles of tartar, but also remove the pigment coat of the teeth, making them bright and clean as new.

Image source: Pixabay

3. Will teeth cleaning make the gaps between teeth wider and make you leak air when you speak? Of course not. If you find that the gaps between teeth have become wider after teeth cleaning and it feels like you have leaky air when you speak, it can only be because you came to the dentist a little too late. It is not your fault for teeth cleaning! It is also wrong to say that teeth cleaning makes people feel that the gaps between teeth are wider, because the original gaps between teeth still exist, but they are filled with dental plaque, and the growth of dental plaque will make the gaps between teeth bigger and bigger. Now that the dental plaque is gone, the original gaps between teeth are completely revealed. On the contrary, teeth cleaning and timely removal of dental plaque can also avoid irreversible damage to teeth. In other words, if you don’t want the gaps between teeth to become wider and bigger, go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned earlier!

Warm reminder: Develop the habit of visiting the dentist regularly to prevent diseases before they happen, so that you can enjoy your food. Let us start by taking care of our teeth and protecting our health!

Source: Chongqing Science Writers Association

Author: Yan Danchen, 2020, major in Stomatology, Nanjing Medical University, and Zou Jingbo, chief technician of Mr. Zou's Science Garden

Audit expert: Li Hanbin

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