Preventative dentistry is the term used to describe the dental services that focus on keeping your teeth and gums healthy; this includes check-ups, x-rays, a scale and polish, oral cancer checks and dietary advice.

If we can keep your teeth healthy using preventative dentistry, you’ll be less likely to need more invasive dental treatments in the future.

Preventative dentistry can help everyone. Even if you have no teeth left at all, it’s still important to visit your dentist to check for the early signs of oral cancer or inflammation caused by your dentures. If you have lost some teeth, but still have plenty of natural ones left, we will use preventative dentistry to keep those teeth healthy.

For most people, preventative dentistry means coming into the clinic for dental check-ups once or twice a year. During these appointments, we’ll check all your teeth and may carry out x-rays if there’s anything that needs investigating.

In between your dental check-ups, we’ll probably ask you to attend an appointment with the hygienist so that your teeth can have a deep clean and scale and polish to keep them healthy and protect against or improve signs of gum disease. We will also give you advice about cleaning your teeth to catch any tricky pockets of plaque and how to floss properly; we may also give you dietary advice relevant to your oral health. How often you need to see the dentist or hygienist will depend on your individual case.

Yes. You should aim to brush and floss your teeth at least twice a day, first thing in the morning and before you go to bed at night. If you plan to brush after a meal, try to wait an hour so that you don’t brush particles of acid from your food into the enamel of your teeth.

When you eat sugary foods, the sugar causes the bacteria in plaque (the sticky coating on your teeth) to release acid, which then eats away at your tooth enamel, eventually causing tooth decay. To protect your teeth, you should try to cut right down on how much sugar you eat and drink. If you do want a fruit juice or some sweets, try to have them at the end of a main meal rather than as a snack. If you want a snack, try to drink water or milk, and stick to savoury snacks such as cheese and nuts.