Oral Health Education
Practical, specific advice about your own mouth — the part that decides how well everything else works.
Personalised
About your mouth, not a leaflet.
Preventive
Fewer fillings, less treatment.
All Ages
Children and adults both.
Expert Guidance
From qualified hygienists.
Improve your oral care routine
Our hygienists will show you the technique rather than simply describe it.
Most dental problems are prevented at home, not here.
We can fill a tooth, but we cannot brush it for you. Almost everything that goes wrong in a mouth is decided by what happens between appointments, which is why we spend time on technique rather than assuming it.
Our hygienists work out where your own routine is falling short — and it is nearly always somewhere specific rather than everywhere — then fix that.
What the session involves
One-to-one time with a hygienist, working on your own mouth with a mirror in front of you. It is not a lecture and there is no leaflet at the end of it.
Typically we will:
- Watch how you actually brush, and adjust the angle, pressure and timing
- Work out whether floss, interdental brushes or a water flosser suits your gaps — they are not interchangeable
- Show you the spots you are consistently missing, using disclosing dye if it helps
- Go through how what you eat and drink, and when, affects your teeth
- Answer whatever you have been meaning to ask
It is included in your hygiene appointment, and can be booked on its own if you want longer.
What we go through
It depends on what your mouth needs, but usually some of:
Brushing Technique
Angle, pressure and time. Most people brush too hard and for too short a stretch. We will recommend a brush that suits your gums and show you how to reach the surfaces you are missing.
Interdental Cleaning
A toothbrush cleans roughly three of the five surfaces on each tooth. Everything that happens between teeth — decay and gum disease alike — happens on the two it cannot reach.
Diet & Nutrition
How often you eat sugar matters more than how much. We will go through timing and acidity, which is usually more useful than being told to cut things out.
Specialist Care
Dentures, implants, bridges and braces each need cleaning differently, and none of it is obvious. We also help parents get children into a routine that sticks.
We will also cover fluoride, whether a mouthwash is worth your money, and how often you should be seeing a hygienist given your own risk.
Who gets the most from it
Nearly everyone, including people who are quite sure they brush well. It matters most for:
- Children — habits formed early tend to hold, and we keep it light rather than stern.
- Anyone with gum disease — home cleaning does more for periodontitis than anything we do in the chair.
- Patients with braces or implants — both need specific techniques, and neither is intuitive.
- Anyone whose gums bleed — that is not normal, and it is usually fixable in weeks.
Why we bother
Decay, gum disease and bad breath are all largely preventable. They persist because a great many people brush in a way that misses the same surfaces every day and never find out.
Time spent on this:
- Fixes habits that would otherwise quietly cost you teeth
- Catches gum problems while they are still reversible
- Means fewer fillings, and fewer of the appointments nobody enjoys
- Costs a great deal less than the treatment it avoids
It is included with every hygiene visit, so you get it whether or not you ask.