Teeth Cleaning

[manutoo]

Hello,

I had a teeth cleaning yesterday.

The dentist did it with the "milling machine" (not sure of the english word), not with ultrasounds.

As it was quite "unpleasant" to feel the strikes against my gum, I asked him for a anesthesia. It seems like it was almost superfluous for him.

(sorry, I'm not Rambo, I have trouble to handle the feelings when someone is putting a a 3000rpm rotating tool on my gums... )

It took 30 min (with a few stops to spit the blood & the limbs of my gum), and to have, for a result, good cleaned teeth, but with less gum between them...

And I paid 955b (in St Louis Hospital, near Surasak BTS station).

It was my 1st cleaning ever, but maybe I'll need another one within 1 year, in Thailand again, so here my question :

Do some Thai dentists know ultrasounds ??

And is the cost a lot higher than 955b ?

Thanks!

[h90]

strange experience! I had the same with absolut no feeling! It was very nice and of course no blood.

Hello,

I had a teeth cleaning yesterday.

The dentist did it with the "milling machine" (not sure of the english word), not with ultrasounds.

As it was quite "unpleasant" to feel the strikes against my gum, I asked him for a anesthesia. It seems like it was almost superfluous for him.

(sorry, I'm not Rambo, I have trouble to handle the feelings when someone is putting a  a 3000rpm rotating tool on my gums...  )

It took 30 min (with a few stops to spit the blood & the limbs of my gum), and to have, for a result, good cleaned teeth, but with less gum between them... 

And I paid 955b (in St Louis Hospital, near Surasak BTS station).

It was my 1st cleaning ever, but maybe I'll need another one within 1 year, in Thailand again, so here my question :

Do some Thai dentists know ultrasounds ??

And is the cost a lot higher than 955b ?

Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[jingjingna]

Not sure what you mean by ultrasounds concerning dental treatment ..last year I had my teeth cleaned for around the same price but I was brave and had it done without any anesthetic

[lopburi3]

Believe what you had is called "Dental Scaling" and it is much more intrusive than a normal cleaning of the teeth. With that tip they go below the gum line to remove plaque from teeth and dead tissue so there is a little pain involved. I find it much less painful than having it done manually (which I have also experienced).

[taxexile]

if you have not had your teeth scaled for a long while and you are someone with a lot of hard "scale" around your teeth , then hand instrumentation is usually necessary.

although taking longer , the results are better with hand instruments ( dentists stopped using tools about 250 years ago)

after removing all the hard scale from around the teeth and under the gum , the dentist will usually polish the teeth to remove plaque (which is soft )using a rotating brush and some fine polishing paste.

a heavy deposit of hard and attached "scale" leads to a chronic inflammation of the gums and the gums will appear red and bleed a lot when brushed or touched.

healthy gums are pink and should not bleed when brushed or flossed.

there are exceptions to this , but i wont go into that here.

you should get your teeth scaled and polished at least every 6 months.

normally there should be no bleeding (or at the most , very little) when having you teeth scaled.

you must have had a lot of scale present.

ultrasonic instruments vibrate at a very high frequency and it is this vibration that shakes the scale loose. hand instruments asre used to pull or scrape the scale off.

hand instruments give the dentist a much better " feel" for the anatomy (bumps, nooks and crannies of the tooth under the gum and betwwen each tooth) of the tooth than can be obtained with ultrasonic instruments.

a thorough dentist will always " go round again" with hand instruments after using ultrasonic cleaning devices just to confirm that all is well.

regular scaling and polishing is probably the most important and beneficial treatment you can have in order to maintail oral health.

[h90]

in Austria I had such a cleaing with salt cristals, hmm how to describe in english.....

they were blowing salt cristals on my theet and that should remove the scale. it was also a little bit painfull and really a lot of blood came.

After this experience I did not had treatment for 6 years and than in thailand a cleaning without any blood or minimal amount and without any pain.

if you have not had your teeth scaled for a long while and you are someone with a lot of hard "scale" around your teeth , then hand instrumentation is usually necessary.

although taking longer , the results are better with hand instruments ( dentists stopped using tools about 250 years ago)

after removing all the hard scale from around the teeth and under the gum , the dentist will usually polish the teeth to remove  plaque (which is soft )using a rotating brush and some fine polishing paste.

a heavy deposit of hard and attached "scale" leads to a chronic inflammation of the gums and the gums will appear red and bleed a lot when brushed or touched.

healthy gums are pink and should not bleed when brushed or flossed.

there are exceptions to this , but i wont go into that here.

you should get your teeth scaled and polished at least every 6 months.

normally there should be no bleeding (or at the most , very little) when having you teeth scaled.

you must have had a lot of scale present.

ultrasonic instruments vibrate at a very high frequency and it is this vibration that shakes the scale loose. hand instruments asre used to pull or scrape the scale off.

hand instruments give the dentist a much better " feel" for the anatomy (bumps, nooks and crannies of the tooth under the gum and betwwen each tooth) of the tooth than can be obtained with ultrasonic instruments.

a thorough dentist will always " go round again" with hand instruments after using ultrasonic cleaning devices just to confirm that all is well.

regular scaling and polishing is probably the most important and beneficial treatment you can have in order to maintail oral health.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[ProThaiExpat]

My well know "western style" dentist uses both ultra-sound and saline (salt solution pressured against teeth". Cost 1200 baht (discounted to 900 to encourage my return in six months is my guess).

"Local" Thai dentist will do it for 300 Baht (400 for falang) but the experience was so unpleasant, I returned to my "hi-so" dentist this last time.

Many don't know that in Thailand, only a dentist is allowed into the mouth, thus no dental techs to clean teeth, standard practice in many western countries and accordingly the price being equal to the west.

[manutoo]

@ jingjingna:

I'm not sure what is ultrasound as I never had this treatment myself, but it's without blood & fast.

@ lopburi3:

Maybe you're right, coz my gum was inflammed (not too bad, but really needed some treatment).

But on the bill, I just have this generic term : "Periodontal treatment".

@ taxexile:

yup, I got :

1st step: fast rotating tool

2nd step: hand instruments

3rd & last step: slow rotating brush

And yup, I had a lot of scale, but only on back of 3 teeth. On other ones, it was just a little.

I never had scale like this before, only got it so hard since i'm in thailand... :S

@ ProThaiExpat:

where is located your "western style" dentist ?

[ProThaiExpat]

Grace Dental Clinic in Chiang Mai

[Kf6vci]

I love brushing my teeth with H2 O2, hydrogen peroxide. My teeth are in terrible condition due to not having learnt how to brush them properly until a dentist took pity on me in my mid 20s and referred to a course, 2 x 2 hours. Proper brushing techniques and H2 O2 should also help.

[Kf6vci]

I love brushing my teeth with H2 O2, hydrogen peroxide. My teeth are in terrible condition due to not having learnt how to brush them properly until a dentist took pity on me in my mid 20s and referred to a course, 2 x 2 hours. Proper brushing techniques and H2 O2 should also help.

[Kf6vci]

I love brushing my teeth with H2 O2, hydrogen peroxide. *** 3 % solution only and not daily, please! Warning: I'm not a dentist :-)

[Ice Maiden]

The dentist I went to today apparently when to uni for six years to learn dentistry. Didn't bloody show when she pulled my tooth out today. She was a lovely lady but she wasn't gentle. Gave me one injection then had a go at pulling it and I went crazy - are you not supposed to wait a few mins first? Then because that didn't work she injected me three more times. Isn't that too many injections? Waited a bit then yanked it out and put a few stitches in. Also afterwards stuck a few more injections in before I left. I've been feeling drowsy and drugged up for the past few hours, and in pain .

I haven't seen any western dentists but I'd like to know one now.

Manutoo - I'd make sure you find a better dentist if you was in pain.