What is serum tartar? Is it dangerous?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Dang Tien Dat - Doctor of Odonto-Stomatology - Department of Medical Examination and Internal Medicine - Vinmec Ha Long International General Hospital.
Serum tartar is formed when tartar is often left untreated for a long time, leading to bleeding and inflammation in the gums. Serum tartar is also the cause of a bad, fishy mouth odor due to blood stagnation.

1. What is serum tartar?

Tartar, also known as tartar, is plaque that is accumulated and calcified by inorganic salt compounds in saliva and soft deposits (which can be food debris or minerals in the mouth, etc.). ..) gradually becomes hard, firmly attached to the tooth surface or under the gum line.
Tartar usually has 2 types: normal tartar and serum tartar. Tartar is usually pale yellow. Serum tartar is reddish brown or dark brown in color.
Serum tartar is usually located below the gums and that's where more bacteria are found than regular tartar. It causes the growth and inflammation of bacteria to happen quite quickly.

2. Is serum tartar dangerous?

It can be said that one of the leading causes of disease in the gums and around the teeth is serum tartar or normal tartar.
When having serum tartar, the patient will often experience bleeding that occurs at the root of the tooth. Besides, once it has penetrated deep inside the gums, the patient can have severe inflammation of the water, more seriously, the gums can gradually separate from the roots, making the roots easily shaken as well as infected with bacteria. attack.
Root abscesses, inflammation of the roots and loss of teeth are among the common conditions when tartar lingers for too long in the mouth. Not only causes dull pain, but it also affects the patient's health, making chewing teeth weaker.
In addition, serum tartar is also the cause of a foul, fishy mouth due to blood stagnation. Brushing your teeth or chewing gum are only temporary remedies. In some cases, tartar can also cause retrograde pulpitis.

3. How to get serum tartar?

Once serum tartar is located close to the root and below the gum line, only specialized tools can remove it, which usually have a small tip and are used by doctors.
Currently, there are many methods to remove tartar, in which the method of removing tartar by ultrasonic waves is highly appreciated as well as the effectiveness of even the tartar under the gums is also cleaned quickly. . For this method, people use ultrasonic waves to separate tartar plaques without using strong force to scrape or trap. Helps to keep tooth enamel from being affected.
Besides, the tartar machine can customize the ultrasonic wave frequency depending on the level of tartar.
When taking serum tartar, because the gums have tartar causing inflammation, the bacteria, the blood that remains at the inflammation site is separated, so the patient can lead to a little bleeding under the gums. However, you should not be too worried, just rinse your mouth with water to clean your mouth.

4. Rules to prevent tartar

The first measure that we still do every day is to brush our teeth. This is the most important step in taking care of your oral health.
However, there are still many people who do not know how to brush their teeth properly. Proper brushing is that all tooth surfaces, especially the interstitial surface between the two teeth and the part at the neck adjacent to the gum margin, must be cleaned. In addition, to clean the tooth surface at the gingival margin, you should let the bristles tilt towards the gum margin, forming an angle of 45° relative to the axis of the tooth.
However, brushing in the horizontal direction cannot clean the interstitial surface between 2 teeth. Therefore, you must brush your teeth in a circular direction or gently move the brush from the gum to the tooth surface to clean the plaque in the interdental area.
Should brush teeth twice a day: morning and night before going to bed. To ensure oral hygiene, you should use fluoride toothpaste or mouthwash. Each time you finish eating, you can use dental floss to help remove plaque on the sides of the teeth when a toothbrush can't.
For those who have exposed roots or wear dentures, it is necessary to use special sticks or brushes to remove plaque on teeth as well as stimulate gums.
Especially for those who smoke, the possibility of tartar is very large. So to keep your teeth healthy, you should give up smoking.
Regular dental checkup every 6 months to detect early dental damage.

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