Inadequate dental cleaning WILL lead to food decay between teeth, tarter buildup on the enamel tooth surfaces, irritation of the gum tissues, encouragement of destructive anerobic bacteria, development of oral mutated fungal colonies, activation of viruses in remission, calcium/bone loss, development of bad breath, and, the potential for acute and chronic illness acquisition. MOST of these possibilities may not present as significant identifiable symptoms until they are very difficult to recover from.

If you have illness symptoms elsewhere in your body, the disease which is building there can influence and can encourage the development of oral disease, in spite of relatively good self-care, yet infrequencies of professional cleaning.

Chronic parasitic infection (bacterial, fungal, viral, worm, etc.) leads to poor digestion and assimilation which results in mineral and vitamin deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, immune system distraction and overtaxing. These can present as allergies, fatigue, immune suppression, recurrent respiratory illnesses and other organ dysfunctions, dental health decline or weakness.

With population increase and water supply contamination with chemical pollutants has also arrived periodic outbreaks of Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus viridans, and, and almost 30 other infectious microorganisms in the water supply of any industrialized and commercialized mass culture. The presence, or the remaining evidence of these is likely present in your system. Drinking bottled water and filtered water may reduce the likelihood of further assimilation of these, yet, it will not eradicate what you already have. Only one drinking exposure is necessary for long-term health challenge and possible decline.

Intergenerational transfer of parasites is increasingly occurring in tandem with both environmental degeneration, population demand on resources, and aging dental mercury amalgam weakening influence on immune systems.

In a 1992 study on prenatal exposure to heavy metals, published in Pediatrics Journal, by M. Lewis, et al, it was clearly shown that the presence of heavy metals in a mother transferred immune dysfunctions to her children. If her amounts were high, her children would predictably have greater frequencies of coughs, fever, sore throat, congestion, diarrhea, vomiting, ear infections, and constipation ... than children born of less toxic parents.

Between the late 1940's and the late 1990's, immunization with vaccinations added insult to environmental toxicities by infusing doses of mercury with the vaccine into often immature immune systems of children. This guaranteed that if you did not become immune compromised from a toxic mother, or a toxic local environment, your government and medical institutions would ensure that you would through this blanket approach of "when in doubt, panic!"

The mercury was added as a preservative without the relevancy that the biological system of a child is NOT the same as that of an adult. Mass production of biologicals and foodstuffs has often resulted in, and continues to result in, losses of up to 45% of production through spoilage before use. Seeding youngsters with bacterially or fungally infected vaccines could also have been as deadly, as the disease being protected against.

Infected mothers have also seeded their parasitic colonies into their children either during gestation, during delivery, or during the first two or three childhood years when the immune system is still in development. It has been medically known since the 1970's that mutated Candida, pinworms, viruses, bacterial and amoebic parasites were being transferred in this manner.

The outcome of foetus and childhood acquisition of parasites, either from the environment or from a parental source --- has been increasingly evident in North American society as well as in other industrializing and commercializing nations. Children born since 1940 have increasingly expressed weakened immune system responses. This trend has existed for millennia as energy block development in humanity has accumulated through heredity, social challenge, and the influences of authoritarianism. The new accelerants to this trend have been environmental pollution, parasitic transfer, and the deterioration of dental mercury amalgams.

Expressed weakened immune responses are seen in repeated ear, nose, throat, and lung infections together with chronic digestive irregularities, hyperactivity, chronic depression, and, an increasing attraction to addictive drugs and behaviors. As the immune system is challenged elsewhere in the body, so also it is challenged in the mouth. SOME of these would have occurred in the past before 1900 and resulted in the death of as many as 50% of the family offspring before the age of 7. The advent of antibiotic use decreased the death rate considerably, yet not the disease eradication rate. This has encouraged endemic parasitic based chronic illness.

Changes in diet, made necessary by the transfer of over 80% of the population to urban areas during the 1900s, has resulted in most people not growing their own food and not having access to fresh picked fruits and vegetables. This has eliminated most of the benefit of anti-parasitic enzymes in the diet. Agricultural industrialization has resulted in intensive farming practices leading to a demineralization of foods and loss of soil depth. Both from armaments development and testing and industrial pollution, the air and rain on those crops has brought heavy metal contaminants. Other chemicals to accelerate growth and decrease loss have resulted in a loss of more healthful biological controls. The mass produced dietary options are either expensive, or, disease promoting.

These biological and environmental changes, which we have allowed or had imposed on us by those we revere or pay to protect us, make dental, and general health, increasingly difficult to maintain. An inability to take responsibility for one's health and an inability to hold others responsible for their part in our health ... has allowed our health care systems to become increasingly fragile. It is not that we cannot live more healthfully nor that our health care systems cannot be less costly. It IS that we are ignorant of the relevancy of the factors involved and leave the decisions to others who are inept in their diagnosis and delivery of health services.

Let's get an awareness of what our health requires, and, what health practitioners can do to assist us in reaching an end of well maintained health.

Tooth tarter is composed of a solid sticky deposit consisting of salts and remains of food. Tartar encourages anerobic bacteria growth and enzyme concentrations which both can attack the calcium of the tooth and irritate the adjacent tissues. This produces inflammation and foul odor and may lead to festering of tooth roots resulting in teeth loss. Tartar formation begins with the deposition of various calcium phosphates that undergo eventual transformation and harden into tartar on the tooth surface.

Plaque is the result of food debris, bacterial action on this material in the presence of saliva ... with the product being deposited on irregular surfaces of teeth. When plaque is not removed on a regular basis, it becomes mineralized ... forming calculus.

Tartar buildup above and below the gum lines may require X-rays to see how much of the bone has been lost. The beginning signs of pocket formation or periodontitis, may be developing from bacterial infection and this may result in the gums receding and also contributing to swelling of the gums and chronic inflammation.

Tartar buildup can be limited by regular cleaning, the eating of fresh high enzyme --- including tomato, and whole grain --- foods, the drinking of lemon water, the avoidance of refined foods and prescription drugs, and the occasional wiping of the teeth with hydrogen peroxide. You can also brush them with a combination of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. Blackberries and cranberries have also been found to reduce tartar buildup.

Often periodontal disease evolves as a result from plaque, tartar and calculus buildup. When saliva contacts a tooth, a glycoprotein layer is laid down permitting certain oral bacteria to adhere to the surface of the tooth. These bacteria synthesize other polysaccharides that permit other bacterial species to also adhere to the surface of the tooth, forming "plaque. The entrapment of bacteria and bacterial toxins in plaque, facilitated by the presence of food, as well as the physical interaction of developing calculus (hard/irritating) stimulates an inflammatory response by the juxtapositioned gums (gingiva) including the tooth's surrounding gingival "pocket".

Plaque extends under gums causing inflammation there, and this, in turn loosens the periodontal ligaments' attachment to alveolar bone, resulting in deepening of the pocket and recession of gingival tissue, which results in partial root exposure, and invites further advancement of tartar and calculus to these areas. As periodontal ligaments are damaged, and gingiva recede, affected teeth loosen and are painful. Halitosis is common. Adjacent bone can lead to bone infection (osteomyelitis), oronasal fistula and systemic infection.

Periodontal disease may arise from primary metabolic, neoplastic and infectious diseases and gingival hyperplasia, as well. Examples of metabolic diseases causing periodontal disease are Hypothyroidism and Cushings Disease, Diabetes.

Soluble pyrophosphate is an anti-tartar ingredient in some toothpastes which does not interfere with fluoride's decay protection. Pyrophosphate reduces the amount of tartar formed, and any tartar that does form is not bound as tightly to the tooth. Soluble pyrophosphate deposits in the bacterial plaque on teeth and gums and is slowly released to bind calcium in saliva. This reaction reduces the formation of calcium phosphate on the tooth's surface. Additionally, the pyrophosphate binds the calcium in saliva without pulling it out of tooth enamel and does not interfere with fluoride's effect on remineralization. The small amount of calcium phosphate that is deposited on the tooth's surface is stabilized by the soluble pyrophosphate, thus further reducing the amount of tartar formed.

Fluoride can protect teeth in a process called enhanced remineralization by replacing minerals that are lost when acids from bacterial plaque attack the surface of the tooth. Tartar deposits on the tooth surface in an almost identical manner in which fluoride's remineralization occurs. Consequently, any chemical used to inhibit tartar formation could also hinder remineralization, causing cavity formation. Using an anti-tartar compound tends to necessitate the use of a fluoride application to reduce cavity formation.

Viral, chemical or other causes of defective tooth development or trauma may result in the absence of adequate enamel over the crown. The underlying dentin is easily stained and and affected teeth are easily broken or worn.

The degree to which tarter will accumulate on your teeth depends upon a number of factors, including these:

• Proportions of fresh to prepared foods.
• How many active enzymes you have in your food.
• How much starch/refined grains you eat.
• Proportions of raw to cooked foods.
• The pH balance of your saliva.
• How much refined sugar you intake.
• Frequency with which you brush your teeth.
• Frequency to which you floss your teeth.
• The degree of dental mercury outgasing.
• The presence of oral mutated candida.
• The prevalence of oral anerobic bacteria.
• Personal genetics, assimilation weaknesses.
• Energy block stress, coping skills.
• Frequency of professional cleaning.
• Whether you smoke or not.
• others.

When dental silver-mercury amalgam fillings are polished, they release small amounts of mercury gas, which can be both absorbed through the skin and inhaled by the patient, dentist or hygienist. Mercury is a known neuro- and immunotoxin which encourages gum disease and cavity development.

There are several major forms of professional dental cleaning as performed by dental hygienists.

The use of rubbing sticks is the oldest form of personal tooth cleansing. Local roots which work well for the function are picked and may be frayed before being rubbed strongly against the tooth surface. In some cases, the root may have to be dried before use while with other substances the fiber may require soaking to soften it.

Mechanical scaling or scraping is the oldest professional form of tarter removal. There are several possibilities which always exist for cross infection when this technique is used unless severe precautions are used. If the dental hygienist does not clean the tool and scaled area after working on each tooth, there is a likelihood that contaminated material may be carried to the next tooth. This is particularly true if tooth areas below the gum line are being cleaned. A bad infection near the root of one tooth may be transferred to a number of nearby teeth.

The magnetostrictive ultrasonic device utilizes high frequency electrical current through a coil in the handpiece to alternatively magnetize-demagnetize a ferromagnetic rod within the handpiece. This leads to vibration of the ferromagnetic stack when current is applied. This, in turn, is connected by a rigid tip to a rod and the tip is made to oscillate in an elliptical pattern. The tip is cooled via a stream of water.

Piezoelectric scalers pass high-frequency electric currents to a piezoelectric crystal which changes shape with the oscillating current...vibrating in a semi-elliptical manner. Like the magnetostrictive variety, the tip is cooled via water. These instruments still generate significant heat and are not recommended for subgingival scaling due to potential for heat-induced soft-tissue damage.

Sonic Scalers are handpieces attached to an air-driven dental unit. The tip oscillates relatively (compared to ultrasonic devices) slowly (less than 20 kHtz). Sonic scalers generates less heat then the ultrasonic devices but they are also less powerful. However, they can be safely used for subgingival scaling.

Ultrasonic scaling has become increasingly used through the 1990's and to the present with many North American dental hygienists now offering this option.

A Scaler System includes a power console, foot pedal, water supply line, hand piece, AC line cord and quick connect cord. A "Turbo" button may be available for operator controlled power boosts. Many are now of a compact design, or can easily be installed within cabinetry.

It is also simpler to carry out, safer, and often faster to complete a set of scaling by its neither requiring a scratching probe nor x-rays.