I've always had an obsession with anything 'dental'. Here's a bit about my past experiences:
I had a great NHS dentist growing up. My dental hygiene has always been pretty good. 6 monthly checkups would normally consist of a brief poke around followed by a gentle polish. I was scared of the polisher when I was younger but realised it was harmless ~8y/o and opened wide for it every time knowing it was nothing more than a tickle...
As a couple of years went on, our NHS dentist moved to a private practice therefore we followed her. This was the point at which I started developing a little tartar build-up behind my lower incisors. The dentist would scrape this off at every visit with a hand scaler; sometimes having to use a reasonable amount of force (or so it felt from my perspective).
When I was a little older (~12y/o) I vividly remember the first visit in which I met the ultrasonic scaler. I had seen this tool used on my mother's teeth in the past and always thought it must hurt given the noise it emitted. My dentist had finished checking my teeth, expecting her to bring out the manual scaler to clean behind my lowers, a large pointy unit was inserted into my mouse with a long hose (the ultrasonic). I remember feeling worried and didn't have time to ask what it was (neither did the dentist try to reassure me or explain). This was followed by the dental nurse with a suction tube. It all seemed like a lot for someone who had never had anything done to their teeth before! 'Let's give these a little clean' said the dentist followed by the characteristic buzzing of the instrument. I found the experience relatively ok except for the occasional tinge of pain as she went in-between teeth. After this had been completed followed by the usual polishing, I remember running my tongue along the inside of my bottom teeth. They felt so clean and sharp! I also had to nip into the dentist's bathroom (claiming I needed the toilet) just so I could check my newly cleaned teeth in the mirror. As I opened wide, I remember looking in awe at the areas of yellow staining between my teeth which had all disappeared. Safe to say I was a fan of getting my teeth cleaned!
The ultrasonic scaler became a repeat experience at following dental checkups. I wished I could visit more often! When I was around 16y/o I remember the dentist teaching me to floss. She also had a little 'nag' at this visit as my dental hygiene had slipped every so slightly due to exams occupying my mind. I had previously received nearly all 0 BPE scores but this time there were a fair few 1s.
After the age of 18, I was no longer eligible for free care at this practice so stopped visiting the dentist. Afterall, I had never had any tooth decay so didn't exactly count myself as 'high risk'. A couple of years passed and I noticed my teeth starting to look a little worse for wear. My brushing routine was still as good as ever (possibly even improved by upgrading to the latest Oral B iO toothbrush) but interdental cleaning was not my strong suit. I noticed areas of stain and build-up in-between my teeth. Also, brown staining was starting to manifest on my upper incisors. I knew I needed to get to the dentist but the pandemic was now in full swing...
During the pandemic, I tried to keep on top of things by purchasing an ultrasonic scaler from eBay. I would run this around the 'problem areas' once a week which seemed to keep everything looking relatively clean. I also purchased a bunch of different dental hygiene aids including: a water flosser, William probe (for checking my gum pocket depths myself), a multitude of interdental aids, tuft brushes, cheek retractors and prophylaxis paste.
Once the pandemic was winding down, I managed to book in with a dentist (to which I had not previously visited). I was attracted by their focus on dental hygiene treatments which I knew would benefit me. I turned up for my appointment feeling quite nervous; the dentist was a familiar experience for me but at this point I hadn't visited in ~3 years. Would I have any holes? Would the dentist know I'd been attempting to scale my own teeth?
Expecting to see the dentist first, I was told I would first be seeing a hygienist. My name was called and I entered the room. The hygienist (a nice lady) asked about my dental hygiene to which I had to admit my lack of interdental cleaning. I opened up in apprehension as she spent a while poking around without saying anything. Luckily, her first words were 'Oooh you're doing a really nice job. They only need a little clean'. Music to my ears! She then explained how I needed to cleaning in-between my teeth as my BPE scores were mostly 1s with the occasional 2. The ultrasonic scaler came out and she proceeded to thoroughly clean all my teeth followed by polishing. I had missed this clean feeling so much! The season with the dentist which followed didn't really yield any different comments. I remember getting back in my car being eager to check my teeth in the sun visor mirror. I had proper 'pearly whites' again; what a good feeling!
I decided to book onto a dental plan with a 3 monthly hygienist recall. I did not need this frequency of cleaning from a health point of view but couldn't help getting that clean feeling as often as possible. Eventually, I ended up getting a second dentist so that I could get a second opinion on my teeth (not that anything had been an issue) but more importantly so that I could have more cleanings. This dentist also used the ultrasonic but was extremely thorough (more so than my hygienist at the other practice). It felt like she really got fully between my teeth to clean out any staining and gunk. She praised my teeth saying they were nearly perfect (the exception being a couple of partially erupted wisdom teeth) and that she would be very happy if her children grew up to have such nice teeth. Unluckily, she placed me on a 1 year recall.
My question to you all: have you ever had Guided Biofilm Therapy (GBT)? Is it worth it over a standard scale and polish? It looks like it may have the ability to clean more effectively between teeth but I wonder whether I'll miss the slightly painful sensation of the ultrasonic (no pain-no gain)? I'm thinking about registering with an independent hygienist who uses this technology.
Thanks for reading 🙂