Going to the hospital to clean your teeth is expensive and troublesome. Can you buy an instrument to clean your teeth at home?

Myth: **** “Can you buy equipment to ‘clean your teeth’ yourself?”

Going to the hospital to clean your teeth is expensive and troublesome. Now that technology has advanced, you can buy portable equipment and clean your teeth at home.

**Myth Analysis:** Don’t do this.

Although teeth cleaning seems to be simple, it is still a medical procedure and should be done at a regular medical institution. Buying an instrument to "clean teeth" yourself is not only difficult to clean thoroughly, but it may also cause oral damage and infection.

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Double 11 is coming soon. When I was browsing the shopping app, I saw an advertisement that taught people how to use a thing called an "ultrasonic toothbrush" to clean their teeth. At first, I thought it was just a "teeth cleaning" and maybe it was just like a common water flosser to rinse your teeth! But when I opened the link and took a look, the animation video in the advertisement was really shocking!

It turns out that this tooth washer is really similar to the regular medical device "ultrasonic tooth washer" in the hospital - it seems to be a mini or portable tooth washer. The difference is that the tooth washer in the hospital has a main unit that generates vibrations, while this so-called "ultrasonic tooth washer" is like an electric toothbrush, and the vibrations are also driven directly by electricity. So, can this so-called "tooth washer" be used?

Let me first state the conclusion: Teeth cleaning is a professional medical procedure. There are many hidden dangers in "DIY" and you should ask a professional dentist for help.

Why do I say so? Let’s talk about it in detail below.

What are we washing when we wash our teeth?

The scientific name of "teeth cleaning" is actually "periodontal scaling". The process of teeth cleaning is not simply rinsing with water (although water is sprayed during the process). To make a simple and rough analogy - teeth cleaning may be more like cleaning the scale accumulated in the kettle over the years.

What is the tooth cleaning shovel for? Of course it is dental plaque!

So what is dental calculus? Let's start with dental plaque. Dental plaque is a sticky, colorless or light yellow soft substance, mainly composed of bacteria, food residues and protein in saliva. It easily adheres to the surface of teeth, gum edges and teeth.

If plaque is not removed promptly (by brushing, flossing, etc.), it will gradually absorb minerals from saliva, especially calcium and phosphates. Saliva in the mouth provides these minerals, and when they are deposited in plaque, they gradually harden the plaque, a process called mineralization.

The mineralized dental plaque becomes dental calculus, which is hard and adheres to the surface of the teeth. It is difficult to remove by regular brushing or flossing . The color of dental calculus ranges from yellow to brown. Long-standing dental calculus may even turn dark brown or black. Dental calculus can cause a variety of periodontal diseases, affect the appearance, and cause bad breath.

To prevent dental calculus, it is of course most important to develop good oral hygiene habits, because the soft plaque before dental calculus forms can be brushed off with a little force. If dental calculus has already formed, it is almost impossible to remove it with the tools we can use daily.

At this time, you need to "wash your teeth". Cleaning your mouth well on a regular basis can reduce the speed and amount of tartar formation, and regular washing of teeth can reduce the risk of many periodontal diseases.

How to do regular teeth cleaning

Nowadays, routine teeth cleaning is usually done by dentists using special ultrasonic equipment. The basic principle of teeth cleaning is actually very simple, that is, by making a metal tooth cleaning tip produce high-frequency vibration. When this metal tip gently touches and slides on the surface of the teeth and tartar, the tartar that is relatively loosely attached will be shaken off. While vibrating, water will also be sprayed to cool down and avoid excessive local temperature.

Some people are reluctant to have their teeth cleaned because they think that “teeth cleaning” involves washing with chemicals, which will damage their teeth and mouth. In fact, this is a misunderstanding.

Do you remember the basic principles of teeth cleaning that we just talked about? The water we use for teeth cleaning is medical purified water, which is used to flush away dental tartar and can also serve as a cooling effect.

After cleaning most of the dental calculus, there will be a "sandblasting" step for teeth with more pigmentation, which is to use high-pressure water mixed with very fine powder to spray on the tooth surface to remove residual dirt and plaque. Finally, medicine (such as iodine glycerin) will be applied to the gums to assist in controlling local inflammation.

The above liquids play an auxiliary role in the entire teeth cleaning process, and none of them is the meaning of the word "wash" itself.

Can teeth cleaning be DIY?

Although we occasionally see some colleagues in short videos washing and extracting their teeth in front of the mirror. However, this kind of operation is not standardized for insiders, and it is absolutely not recommended for outsiders. These behaviors are more for self-entertainment, or to attract attention and traffic. If we really want to standardize teeth washing and extraction, even we dentists have to ask colleagues for help.

Let’s go back to the original “ultrasonic toothbrush cleaner” advertisement. It is hard for me to imagine how we should simulate the process of teeth cleaning by a doctor when we pick up a machine with teeth cleaning function in our daily life.

If I were to explain my reasons for opposing DIY teeth cleaning, they can be summarized into the following four points.

**1. ** Poor vision

If you have ever had your teeth cleaned, your dentist will definitely hold a tooth cleaning handle in one hand - yes, the tool that makes water and a "sizzling" sound, and a small mirror (mouth mirror) in the other hand. This is because the oral environment is very small, and many parts cannot be directly seen by human eyes (even through a dressing mirror!), and you have to rely on a mirror inserted into the mouth to reflect light in order to see the corners of the teeth clearly. Although some tooth cleaning devices now have visual functions, this still cannot completely avoid other problems.

2. Risk of injury

The biggest reason why I don't recommend self-cleaning is that I'm worried that it won't be clean enough or will damage the teeth. Ordinary people who haven't received rigorous training may not be able to accurately judge where there is tartar, and it's difficult to control the strength used when cleaning teeth, not to mention operating your teeth in an awkward position (especially when you can't see directly).

You know, the high-frequency vibrating metal tip on the head of the toothbrush handle would be fine if it only touched the tartar, but if it accidentally hit the tooth itself or the gums due to excessive force, it would probably become a very unforgettable experience.
In short, when you clean your teeth by yourself, it is easy to either use too little force or the wrong angle to fail to shake off the tartar, or use too much force, causing the teeth to become sensitive or even damaged due to external forces . As for damage to the gums, it is even more difficult to avoid.

**3.** Health hazards

Students who have had their teeth cleaned know that they often bleed during teeth cleaning. In fact, in hospitals or clinics, all instruments are sterilized before use and are used by specific people only. After use, the dental cleaning tools that can be recycled and reused need to be returned to the disinfection center for comprehensive sterilization before they can be used again. Most of the disposable instruments will be thrown away. At home, the risk of infection may increase due to inadequate disinfection.

**4. ** Difficult to polish

In addition, after we wash our teeth, the surface of our teeth is not actually smooth. In regular medical institutions, the normal process of washing teeth also includes polishing the teeth. It requires the use of a special rotating instrument and polishing paste to clean, supplement and polish the surface of the teeth, which will make it more difficult for tartar to adhere. However, we usually do not have such conditions at home. If we skip this step, not only will the surface of the teeth become rougher, but tartar will also accumulate in a shorter time.

After reading these reasons, I believe everyone has discovered that it is not a good idea to clean your teeth at home. Here we also want to remind everyone again that although "teeth cleaning" is a relatively basic periodontal treatment, it is also a medical act and must be performed by a professional doctor in a professional institution . This is the safest and most reliable.

So how often should we go for a teeth cleaning?

It is recommended that you wash your teeth once every one to two years, even if there is little tartar. This is because the continued presence of tartar and the pressure on the gums are common causes of gingival inflammation, swelling, bleeding and even receding.

Do you now know more about teeth cleaning? In fact, if you don't have any special underlying diseases and you only do it once every one or two years, don't do it yourself, leave it to your dentist. When you clean your teeth, you can also do a detailed health check of your entire mouth. If you have cavities or other dental diseases, you can find and solve them in time, killing two birds with one stone.

Looking in the mirror of rumors

Some seemingly "simple" operations in hospitals may pose health risks if you try them at home. If a business launches such products, we should treat them with caution and it is best to ask professionals for their opinions first, otherwise it may cost you money and harm your health.

Planning and production

Author: He Jianliang, Chief Physician of General Dentistry, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine

Reviewer: Wu Bin, deputy chief physician of the Department of Stomatology, Beijing Luhe Hospital, Capital Medical University