Your mouth is something that you need to take care of. Imagine you have the perfect glowing, flawless skin, sparkling eyes, and rosy red lips. However, when you smile or start talking, the person sitting or standing next to you can’t help but take a step back.
An unclean mouth can be most off-putting. Healthy, clean mouths are a sign of good oral health. Therefore, when you see someone who has plaque or tartar, you end up forming a bad impression of them in your mind.
For the person who has tartar, the situation can be quite embarrassing, and it can force them to look up how to remove tartar from their teeth. That’s what we’re here for. Tartar buildup is one such problem. You will start seeing yourself in a bad way. Unfortunately, this will have a significant impact on your professional and personal life.
That’s why it is important to nip the evil in the bud by learning about the preventive measures against it. And if you already are struggling with the issue, fear not. We’re here with some solutions to remove and prevent tartar.
What Causes Tartar To Build Up?
Tartar is something that comes after dental plaque buildup. The reason why we take care of our dental health, regularly brush our teeth twice a day and use dental mouthwash and floss is that it helps prevent the buildup of plaque.
The bacteria already present in the mouth together with the food particles that enter our mouth form a sticky film over the teeth, known as plaque.
Having good oral hygiene helps remove it so that the bacteria present in the plaque don’t end up causing cavities or tooth decay. Tartar buildup occurs when the plaque stays in the mouth and continues to harden.
It can form underneath or above the gum line and can result in gum disease. Tartar is even stickier than plaque and has a rough, porous surface that easily absorbs stains from foods such as coffee, red wine, curry, etc.
The presence of tartar above the gum line can result in bleeding, swelling, and irritation of the gum tissues, a condition known as gingivitis. If the tartar buildup isn’t taken care of, gingivitis can even cause periodontitis, which can even end up damaging the bones supporting the teeth.
Therefore, timely intervention and a good oral hygiene routine are extremely important not to experience any gum disease. For that, you need to visit the dentist’s office as special tools are needed for its removal.
How Does Tartar Affect Teeth and Gums?
Tartar, also called dental calculus, can negatively affect your oral health, which is why it is important to not let it develop in the first place. It becomes difficult to normally brush and floss the teeth if you have calculus buildup. This, in turn, accelerates the process of tooth cavities, decay, or even tooth loss.
It is the calcification of plaque that results in tartar because the plaque was left undisturbed for weeks. Tartar contains bacteria, debris, and toxins, which is why it is essential to get it removed. Since the surface of tartar is stickier than dental plaque, it provides more surface area for the bacteria to colonize.
The tartar buildup can either form above the gum or in a pocket between the gum and the teeth. Small food particles and bacteria get stuck in the space between the teeth and the gums.
This can end up giving a bad odour to the mouth. Left untreated, it can lead to gum disease and even impact your overall health. It can even make it difficult for you to consume foods that you enjoy.
By destroying the tooth enamel, it can increase tooth sensitivity. Thus, the destruction of the protective enamel layer will end up causing you a lot of dietary restrictions. This understanding is important before learning about how to remove tartar from teeth.
How To Diagnose Tartar?
Unlike plaque buildup, tartar is quite visible due to the brown, yellow colour of its film above the gum line. You can even feel the rough substance in your mouth, the porous surface of tartar when you’re flossing or brushing your teeth.
No matter how hard you try, you cannot brush or floss off the tartar. A dental professional is the only solution to get rid of tartar as it can only be removed with the help of special tools in a dentist’s office.
If the tartar buildup is above the gum line, it is easy enough to see it. However, if the tartar build-up is underneath or between the gum and the teeth, you will notice that your gums are swollen.
Moreover, it will also make your gums bleed easily. The colour of tartar below the gum line is brown or black. If the tartar is not cleaned, it will continue to spread over the teeth.
Due to the sticky nature of tartar, many different types of bacteria, such as Actinomyces and Veillonella, come to the tartar and start colonizing it.
The composition of tartar buildup can vary from one person to another because it depends on the kind of food that the person is consuming and what their oral hygiene habits are.
How To Remove Tartar From Teeth?
On seeing tartar, you might think that it is easy enough to remove it with the help of a toothbrush. It’s a film after all, right? Wrong! It is a calcified, hardened layer of plaque that you cannot remove with your toothbrush.
It is not a good idea to even try to do that because your gums are already suffering, and harshly brushing your teeth can even cause bleeding. There are some kinds of toothpaste that can inhibit the spread of tartar. You can find many anti-tartar kinds of toothpaste in the market.
Can Tartar Be Removed At Home?
You may read many articles online claiming that, yes, you can DIY your way to tartar removal by using natural home remedies that make use of baking sodas, orange peels, vinegar, and whatnot. Although these natural remedies are quite popular among people, they can be wasteful.
You should also not go about buying a dental tool kit from the local pharmacy to remove tartar yourself at home. That’s for sure not a good idea. There are dental professionals who know how to remove tartar from teeth.
They’ve learned how to do it the right way through years of education and training. That is why it is better to make use of their services rather than use the internet to worsen your oral health.
To make sure that the plaque buildup in your mouth doesn’t turn into tartar, take good care of your teeth by brushing and flossing on a daily basis. Learn about the right way to floss so that you also remove the film that forms on the surface of the teeth and between them.
Moreover, you should schedule a regular dental cleaning every 6 months so that the dentists remove any problematic plaque buildup before it turns into tartar and ends up causing tooth decay and gum disease. This way you won’t have to learn about how to remove tartar from teeth.
How Do Dentists Remove Tartar?
That is done through a dental cleaning treatment. When you go to a dentist for dental cleaning, s/he will thoroughly examine your teeth and gums to get an idea of the extent of oral issues that you’re dealing with.
In order to remove the tartar, the dentist uses an instrument called a scaler that has a C-shaped, curved hook at the top. This is used for cleaning above and below the gumline.
The dentist might need to scrape some areas more than others, depending on the extent of tartar buildup. The dentist might follow this process with the brushing of teeth with a special toothpaste that makes deep cleaning possible.
Then you might have to floss your teeth, after which the dentist will give you a fluoride treatment to ensure the best possible protection to your teeth from bacterial plaque buildup.
This is how to remove tartar from teeth the right way. After the treatment, the dentist may call you for a control appointment to check your mouth.
What Can You Do To Prevent Tartar Buildup?
Instead of learning how to remove tartar from teeth, you can prevent it from developing by doing the following:
- Brush your teeth – You need to make sure that you’re brushing your teeth for at least two minutes, twice a day, once in the morning and at night before sleeping.
- Use the right toothpaste & toothbrush – Toothpaste which includes fluoride helps get rid of the bacteria. The kind of toothbrush you use also matters. If the bristles of your brush are too hard and are making your gums bleed, you’ll quite likely stop brushing before even a minute has passed. If possible, you can consider using electric toothbrushes; they might help you remove plaque better than when you do so manually. Use toothpaste that has anti-tarter compounds in it. One study shows the effectiveness of toothpaste containing baking soda against plaque buildup.
- Floss – Floss your teeth and make sure to use an antiseptic fluoride-rich mouthwash. This can help kill the bacteria in your mouth that cause plaque buildup in the first place.
- Avoid sugary foods – Eating sugary foods can also lead to tartar buildup. That’s because the bacteria in your mouth will use the sugars in the food as a source of energy and release chemicals as a result that can harm the teeth.
- Regular cleanings – Lastly, you shouldn’t ignore booking regular control appointments with your dentist to prevent cavities or any other dental disease like gingivitis.
Conclusion
Be mindful of what you’re putting in your mouth and how well you’re taking care of it. Now that you’ve learned how to remove tartar from teeth, it is important that you take care of your oral health and prevent gum disease.
Through proper dental hygiene, you can remove plaque quite easily. You can prevent plaque in the first place if you do things right.
A good dental hygiene routine will also protect your tooth enamel and prevent tarter or the situation where plaque hardens into tartar. Brushing and flossing your teeth, and using mouthwash enable you to keep your dental hygiene.
However, once you have developed it, removing tartar is extremely important as it can cause some other health conditions. That doesn’t mean you should look up how to remove tartar from teeth yourself. Go to a dental professional to ensure proper oral health.