Just back from my first visit with a new dentist - overall, not a bad experience. Except for doing the math and realizing that my dentist isn’t 30 yet! :eek: Do I feel old…
But, that’s not the question.
When you go to the dentist, who cleans your teeth: the dentist or the hygienist?
Eons ago when I was a kid in Baltimore (this would be in the 60s thru early 70s), I don’t think there was any such thing as a hygienist. Dr. Hoffman checked my teeth, filled any cavities, and cleaned them. He also never told me to floss - when did that become standard?
After we settled in Florida and I started seeing a dentist there, the hygienist did all the cleaning and the dentist just popped in to check things out, plus he did the fillings or the extractions. Same deal when we lived in Virginia.
But I’m back in Maryland, and my dentist did the checking and cleaning and flossing! Now, maybe it’s just because it was my first visit to his practice (OK, his dad’s practice, but he is an associate and a real dentist) but his hygienist pretty much just took notes and assisted him as he cleaned. She held the sucker hose thingy.
So, where do you live and how does your dentist, um, dent?
I had one dentist that I had do the cleanings. It was because he was recommended to me by a coworker, and she recommended letting him do it - she said he was much gentler than his hygienist.
Other than that, I’ve always just let the hygienist do it. I guess it’s because of what my dad once told me: never let a doctor give you a shot, because the nurses are better at it - they get more practice. I figured the same principal should apply.
I just went Friday. Hygienist did the pocket check, the cleaning, a flouride treatment, and ran floss through each space. The dentist came in and said I was “responding well to treatment”. Surgery has been forestalled for at least 6 months.
Back in the day, the old geezer dentist did EVERYTHING. The times, they are a’changin’…
San Diego here, and the hygienist does all the cleaning stuff. She also my root plaining, which was a heavy-duty cleaning below the gum line with an electronic thingy. However, the dentist had to administer the anesthesia for that one.
There are also dental assistants who help with other procedures, but aren’t hygienists.
I honestly don’t remember who did the cleanings when I was a kid. You’re correct, though, that dentists weren’t routinely recommending flossing back then. Our family dentist also didn’t use an anesthesia for fillings, so I was terrified of going to the dentist and avoided it for years. I still remember how relieved I was when I had my first painless filling in college.
I’ve always had the hygenist do the cleanings. The dentist only ever shows up to poke around a little bit, pronounce the teeth fine, and go on his merry (and considerably better-paid way). That’s the part that never seemed fair to me: the hygenist does all the work and the dentist gets the big bucks.
scout, I’m guessing it’s because he’s part of his father’s practice and that’s how the elder Dr. does it. Unless it’s how things go in Maryland - that’s why I asked where everyone lives - is this regional or coincidental?
The only time I met my dentist was on my way out the door after a routine cleaning. The hygenist did everything. If I hadn’t seen his photo on the wall in the waiting room, I would have figured this older man smiling at me was just another victim, not Mr. Smith of Smith & Doe DDS!
Here in western Maryland, the hygienists usually do the cleanings.
No, a dental hygienist goes to school to get a license for being a dental hygienist. They are qualified to do all kinds of cleanings, including the really deep, difficult ones.
No. A dental assistant aids the dentist in preparing fillings, taking impressions for crowns, etc. A dental hygienist does cleaning, general mouth inspection, and takes routine X-rays.
My dentist is in the state of Kansas, where dental hygienists are trained and licensed. I’ve usually had my teeth cleaned by a hygienist, but one time when she wasn’t available the dentist did it.
Every dentist I went to when I was growing up had a hygienist who did the cleaning. The dentist really just read the X-rays, and did the fillings when necessary.
We found a local dentist here, though, who works completely solo–no receptionist or hygienist. He does everything himself–cleaning, cavities, tooth shaping, and even orthodontics. Both my kids have braces now that he put on, and he sees both of them every couple of months. He does his own scheduling, which means that he knows how much time he needs for any given appointment, and schedules accordingly. The only time we’ve had to wait for more than five minutes are the times we’ve arrived more than five minutes before our appointment, and even then, he gets us in as soon as he can after we arrive.
He’s good, thorough, and extremely reliable. I recommend him highly to anyone who asks me for a good dentist.
The hygienist does all of my cleanings. My dentist (a she) acts more like a doctor and does rotations around the 3 or 4 patients that are being worked on any given time. She focuses on real dental surgeries and more high end things. She just does a quick inspection after the hygienist is done and rapidly fires off instructions to us both about what will happen next.
My dentist has a very small practice. It’s him, his receptionist (who seems like she must be his aunt or something) and an assistant. He does everything himself. The assistant steps in when there’s something to be held or prepared while he’s working.
Well, here in the UK I have always had my teeth cleaned by a dentist (as in, given a quick polish up and scrape). About six months ago I went for my regular checkup and the dentist said “you have some tartar and stuff you should see the hygenist” which made me go ‘mwah? eh?’ since it was a term I’d only encountered on american TV. But I made an appointment to see the very nice Finnish hygenist who, as she was doing my front teeth, asked “have you ever worn braces?”. A fairly straightforward question, so I told her I’d had the full metal-mouth treatment whe I was a kid, and asked her how she knew - I assumed she had been tipped off by some staining I have on my back teeth where the bands were.
“No, you still have some of the glue on your front teeth. But I’ll get rid of it. It’s quite common, I wish they’d send people to a hygenist straight after they take the braces off.”
:eek:
<scrape scrape scrape> nice smooth teeth
So my current dentist is very good and ‘dents’ quite thoroughly compared to all my previous dentists, but none of them ‘dents’ as thoroughly as Riia who can spot and remove superglue everyone else missed for 16 years.
This reminds me, time to make another appointment soon…
At my former dentist in Westchester, the hygienist did all the cleanings, and the dentist just stopped by afterward to review x-rays and have a quick look. My hygienist was great at getting my teeth clean, but boy she was brutal.
Through my current job, insured dental care is handled in part by fellows of the university dental school. These folks are already licensed dentists, doing advanced training in general dentistry (sort of like a post-doctoral position). Because they’re still in training, of course, the dentists themselves do all the work apart from set-up and x-rays. The guy I had recently was great, and certainly allayed my fears about being a “practice subject.”
In Spain there’s no such thing as a hygienist. I’ve never gone to the dentist elsewhere.
And no flossing, either. There’s a brand of floss that started trying to make inroads a couple years back, big ad campaign; many people asked their dentists about it (after all, we’ve all seen it in movies) but the dentists say not to. I don’t remember what’s the argument they give.
Dentist did it all when I was growing up in the 60s/70s; I think he had a hygienist by the time I graduated college. Since then, the hygienist does the bulk of the work, usually the dentist just does a quick check once she’s done through the cleaning etc.
From some recent experiences, this is a good thing: she spotted some potential decay on one of my daughter’s teeth; he said “nope, no decay”; 4 months later my daughter was hysterical with pain because that “non-decayed” baby tooth had split and abscessed and had to be extracted. There was at least 1 other cavity that the hygienist saw that the dentist dismissed. Needless to say my daughter no longer sees that dentist. Her new dentist found 5 cavities on the first visit, that were missed by the former dentist.
