How Much Does a Dental Hygiene Appointment Cost?
A dental hygiene appointment is a necessary part of keeping your teeth and gums clean and healthy. But since dentistry isn’t included free on the NHS like other services, it can be annoying and complicated to find a dentist and work out the costs of each treatment. At Didsbury Dental Practice, we’ve made all of our service and treatment costs affordable and easy to understand so you don’t have to worry about your dental care. Let’s look at everything you need to know about dental hygiene appointments from price to preparation.
What Is a Dental Hygiene Appointment?
A dental hygienist can do a great many things to your teeth to help you keep them clean and healthy i.e. maintain good dental hygiene. However, they can’t perform major dental surgery such as root canals and tooth extractions, so you would need to visit a dentist for this.
In a dental hygiene appointment, you can have a number of things done to your teeth, depending on the necessity, including:
- Checkup (tooth inspection)
- Oral x-ray
- Clean and polish
- Advice on how to keep your teeth clean
In much the same way a nurse can perform some medical testing when you visit the doctor’s surgery to save the doctor’s time so they can perform checkups and procedures that require more intensive medical knowledge and expertise, a dental hygienist can keep your teeth clean, so the dentist can use their time to perform more serious procedures.
You can see a dental hygienist before seeing the dentist to have an x-ray performed before a procedure, or simply make a dental hygiene appointment twice a year to have your overall oral health assessed and learn if there’s anything you could be doing better to maintain your teeth, tongue, and gums.
How Much Does a Private Dental Hygiene Appointment Cost?
Private dentistry can be extortionate, depending on where you go, but particularly around London, however, you’re more likely to receive a more personal and caring service than if you use the NHS which is heavily underfunded and overworked. A dental hygiene appointment can range anywhere from £30 to £250, which is quite the difference. However, it usually changes according to what kind of hygiene appointment you’re having.
For example, a simple checkup and plaque removal, or teeth cleaning, is going to be at the cheaper end of the scale, while an x-ray or a full polish will be on the more expensive end.
At Didsbury Dental Practice, our dental hygiene appointments range from £80 to £120, according to what kind of cleaning and checkup you need.
How Much Is an NHS Dental Hygiene Appointment?
When you visit a dentist on the NHS, there are 3 bands of pricing for various dental treatments. Band 1 includes a basic checkup and teeth cleaning to remove plaque and check for cavities, which is £25.80. As inflation rises, however, NHS prices go up, usually at least once a year.
What’s more, the number of dentists practising in NHS services is dropping significantly, with the impact of the pandemic and Brexit also having a major effect on the general public’s ability to get NHS dental appointments, according to a BBC survey. So, it may be in your interest to see a private dentist rather than drive across the country to find an NHS dentist who can see you, or wait months for an appointment in your local area.
Oral health is a significant part of physical health and should be treated as importantly.
Is it Worth Seeing a Dental Hygienist?
If you care in any way about your health, then, yes! It’s absolutely worth seeing a dental hygienist! Keeping your teeth free from bacteria doesn’t just help prevent plaque build-up, but also helps your oral health in several ways, including:
- Preventing tooth decay leading to cavities
- Preventing tooth loss
- Preventing oral infections
- Preventing gum disease
While all of these oral health issues are crucial to avoid, many people don’t realise the impact that maintaining good oral hygiene can have on your overall physical health.
Poor oral hygiene can even increase your risk of developing illnesses such as:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Heart attacks
- Strokes
- Diabetes
- Cancer
Of course, it goes without saying that you should avoid developing these conditions for a longer and healthier life, so since your dental hygiene can impact your risk of developing them, you should maintain excellent oral hygiene.
Maintaining good oral hygiene doesn’t just mean brushing your teeth twice a day, however, it also means regularly visiting the dental hygienist. Although brushing your teeth will remove a lot of the bacteria from your mouth, and flossing will help stop plaque from building up in the gaps between your teeth which causes cavities and tooth decay, it’s not always possible to remove all of the harmful bacteria from your teeth.
When you have wisdom teeth that have pushed the rest of your teeth tightly together, or simply have cramped teeth that overlap, it can be very hard to reach properly into the gaps in your teeth with either the toothbrush or dental floss. That’s where a dental hygienist is necessary! They can scrape away the plaque that has formed on your teeth to prevent cavities from forming and keep your teeth healthier for longer.
Dental hygienists can also take a look at your overall health to check that you don’t have any symptoms of other serious medical conditions such as oral cancers. This is particularly important if you smoke, or drink alcohol, as they greatly increase your chances of developing cancers of the mouth and throat. Once every six months is ideal for dental hygiene appointments, unless you have a known oral hygiene issue or suspect something is wrong, in which case you should see a dental hygienist every 3 months or as soon as possible.
How Should You Prepare for a Dental Hygiene Appointment?
Before you go to your dental hygiene appointment, it’s best to brush your teeth and use dental floss, so it’s easier for the hygienist to clean the plaque off your teeth. When you do brush your teeth, you should brush them in the way you normally do, so the dental hygienist can see how well you’re maintaining your oral hygiene and can advise well on how you can improve.
You should also refrain from eating smelly foods, drinking coffee, or smoking, as these will all make your breath unpleasant for the dental hygienist who needs to get quite close to your face. Eating in general should be avoided in the hour before you see a dental hygienist, as having food stuck in your teeth will make it harder to clean them.
Can You Eat After a Dental Hygiene Appointment?
In general, you can eat whenever you want to after a dental hygiene appointment as your teeth will be free from bacteria that would otherwise feed on the sugars you’re about to consume. However, if you’ve had a fluoride treatment to help strengthen your teeth, you should wait for at least 30 minutes before eating anything.
Also, if you’ve had your teeth thoroughly cleaned, try to avoid foodstuffs that will stain your teeth at least until the next day. Think: if it will stain a white shirt, it will stain your teeth, before you have your lunch or evening meal. That goes for soy sauce, tomato sauces, curry powder, coffee, and smoking.
Ready to Book Your Hygiene Appointment?
Didsbury Dental Practice is waiting for your booking! Located in Manchester, we offer routine appointments from 9 am to midnight every day of the year, as well as emergency dental appointments 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. What are you waiting for? Book your dental hygiene appointment at a time that’s convenient for you today!
