Frequently asked questions about prevention

Everything that keeps teeth and gums from becoming diseased: regular check-ups, professional cleaning, fluoridation and sealing at the practice – and daily oral hygiene at home. Together they work; either one alone does little.

Twice a year is the usual recommendation. Anyone at increased risk – after periodontitis treatment, with diabetes, with a dry mouth – needs shorter intervals. The practice sets the rhythm by what it finds, not by the calendar.

A short stocktaking at the start: where is plaque sitting, where do the gums bleed, how deep are the gum pockets? From that follows what needs doing – and the yardstick for judging next time whether it worked.

For children and adolescents aged 6 to 17, yes: examination, instruction, fluoridation and sealing of the permanent molars. For adults, professional cleaning is generally a private service; some statutory insurers contribute towards it.

First the findings, then the removal of hard and soft deposits – including just below the gum line –, after that the cleaning of the spaces between the teeth, the polishing and finally the fluoridation. It ends with instruction on which technique suits your teeth.

An hour is the rule, longer where there is a lot of plaque or where pockets are deep. Anyone back out of the door after twenty minutes has not had a complete cleaning.

As a rule, no. Work on exposed tooth necks and in deep pockets can be unpleasant; a local anaesthetic is possible there. Say so beforehand, not afterwards.

The price depends on the effort involved: the number of teeth, the amount of deposits, the condition of the gums and the time spent. Ask for the amount in advance – naming it is part of proper treatment.

No. The instruments and powders used are matched to the hardness of enamel. Brushing at home with a strongly abrasive toothpaste and a lot of pressure, by contrast, removes more than any cleaning at the practice.

Twice a day, about two minutes each time, in a systematic order so that no surface is left out. What counts is not the pressure but the thoroughness.

Both work if the technique is right. Electric brushes take over part of the work and help especially where mobility is limited. The best brush is the one that actually gets used.

Where the gap allows it, the interdental brush is more effective. Floss is for tight spaces that no brush fits into. The practice determines the right size – too small does not clean, too large injures.

No. A rinse reaches the surface of the bacterial film, not its core. It is an addition, not a substitute.

A large share of the bacteria in the mouth sits on the back of the tongue. Removing them there daily lowers the germ count noticeably – and prevents bad breath.

Avoid snacking too often between meals. Sugar taken regularly, and the long exposure that goes with it, keeps supplying the bacteria with fresh food. Clean teeth and tongue regularly and do not forget the spaces between the teeth. Drinking mineral water more often helps to avoid damage too, through the dilution effect, as does the use of fluoride-containing foods and toothpastes.

After strongly acidic drinks, drink clear water afterwards and rinse your teeth. Wait at least half an hour before brushing, so as not to brush away the enamel the acid has softened. Pure xylitol chewing gum is also worth recommending: over some 30 minutes it neutralises the acid attack by means of the body's own saliva.

What counts is not the amount at one time but how often. Every time sugar enters the mouth, the pH falls into the critical range for about half an hour. Ten small snacks are therefore more harmful than one slice of cake.

Home dental care should begin for children when the first tooth breaks through into the mouth. Parents should carefully clean even those very first teeth once or twice a day with a soft brush made for this age group. As the children get older, a children's toothpaste should be used as well. What matters is to involve children actively in brushing as early as possible. Even if they only hold the brush themselves and chew on it without much enthusiasm, that is important. It teaches them that brushing is part of the daily routine and that it matters. Together with the parents it can also be a cheerful shared moment.

Yes – and also no. Involving children and encouraging them towards independent oral hygiene matters a great deal to us. Just as important, though, is that the tooth surfaces really get clean – and it takes a good while before children can manage that. Consider how long children need before they can hold a pencil properly and then draw shapes deliberately, let alone write. In terms of movement, brushing is distinctly more demanding. Children should therefore brush their own teeth as early as possible, but mum or dad have to help well into the school years, above all by regularly going over them again afterwards.

Here too: as early as possible. A visit to the dentist has two main purposes for us. First, the dental examination is there to spot any disease of the teeth early and to treat it where necessary. In doing so we want to give the parents feedback and perhaps some practical tips for their efforts at home. Second, children should learn how ordinary and straightforward an examination at the practice is, and that it is entirely normal for a dentist to look at their teeth from time to time. If parents notice something unusual while brushing – dark spots that will not brush away, or teeth that seem badly positioned – they should make an appointment in any case.

Children are not, in principle, afraid of the dentist at all. Why would they be? None of them has yet had the famous "bad experience". Going to the dentist is something new and unknown – but children meet new things all the time. In our experience they are therefore far more curious than anxious. What parents should watch is that they do not project their own possible anxieties onto the child. Many parents can in fact treat their child's first visit as a fresh start for themselves: they are often surprised how much there is to find interesting at the dentist, and how free of stress a check-up can be.

Of course you should tell children what a dentist does and what awaits them, and talk it through with them. Besides talking, children's books lend themselves to this: they take up the subject sensitively and informatively and present it in a way children understand.

It certainly makes sense to take children along to your next check-up, so that they can see how the dentist looks at mum's or dad's teeth and how relaxed the parents are about it. In every area of life parents are the models their children learn from, willingly and eagerly. You should not simply bring your child unannounced, though: please let the practice know in advance that your child is coming. That makes both the preparation and the appointment itself easier for everyone. And please bring your child only to a check-up, not to a planned, lengthy treatment or to emergency care for pain. At such an appointment the child cannot be given the attention it needs, and children grow bored after a while.

There are of course specialists in this field too, who with a great deal of experience and particular expertise can engage closely with children. For some children it is certainly well worth seeing a specialist colleague. In general, however, all dentists can treat children and many are very glad to do so. The simplest course is to ask your own dentist and to request a recommendation.

Because in 90 % of all cases the trigger is disease-causing bacteria in the mouth and throat. Many patients believe the cause lies in the digestive tract and try, for instance, to get the problem under control by changing their diet – usually in vain. Well-known household remedies such as tea tree oil or rinsing with camomile tea may fight the symptoms, but not the causes. Lozenges and sprays are offered by the industry to earn revenue from "fresh breath" – but here too the causes remain.

The most common cause of bad breath is existing periodontitis. Left untreated, it threatens more than the loss of teeth. Chronic bacterial inflammation in the mouth can affect the whole body and raises the risk of diabetes and heart attack. The point, then, is to find and remove the causes of the bad breath as quickly as possible.

Here, too, the first task is to find the possible causes. We therefore ask patients closely about their habits, particularly about diet and oral hygiene at home. At the centre of our "Fresh" treatment concept is regular professional cleaning at the practice, including a thorough cleaning of the tongue. That the tongue is the central gathering place for bacteria is far from common knowledge – so here as well it is about bringing about changes in everyday habits and in oral hygiene.

On the contrary. Bleeding gums are not sensitive, they are inflamed. Brushing them less makes it worse. If the bleeding lasts longer than two weeks, it belongs at the practice.

Often not at all – for a long time it does not hurt. The signs are bleeding gums, bad breath, teeth that look longer and, later, looseness. It is measured with a probe, not by how it feels.

It can be brought to a standstill, but the bone that has been lost does not come back. That is why aftercare counts: cleaning and measuring at fixed intervals, often for life.