"Next best thing to going to the dentist"?

[Cat_Fight]

That’s the claim made for the tooth polisher featured here:

http://www.enexus.com/dentalmart/catalog34.html

I bought a similar one at the drugstore, and I just don’t get it. Is my dentist really just using a roating ribber cup on my teeth? Wouldn’t an Oral-B-type brush be better? Also, the toothpaste the thing came with has PUMICE in it, and no fluoride. My dentist can’t possibly be using that. Won’t it kill my teeth, like sand?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Is my dentist really just using a roating ribber cup on my teeth?

No, it’s the dental hygienist, actually, but yeah, after she gets done scraping all the tartar off from in between your teeth with the steel dental pick (while you sit there and try not to feel like Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man ), she puts the pink toothpaste on the buzzy rubber cup thingie and polishes the flat surfaces of your teeth.

And yeah, professional polishing paste has pumice in it.
http://www.baringvet.net/dentistr.htm

Polishing. Regardless of how careful we are during the scaling/curettage phase of teeth cleaning, minor defects of the tooth surface occur. Polishing smoothes out the defects and removes plaque missed during previous steps. Pumice or polishing paste is used on a polishing cup for the procedure.
When polishing, use firm pressure until the cup edge flares. Overheating is prevented by relieving pressure slightly as the cup moves over each tooth.

Okay, okay, I know the website is for dogs, but hey, teeth are teeth.

Anyway, the dental hygienist has been specially trained in how long to polish your teeth with it, so as not to remove all the enamel, and she can see what she’s doing. You, squinting at yourself in the dimly lit bathroom mirror, cannot.

I doubt whether her pink stuff has fluoride in it, either. It’s just for polishing.