The Complete Handbook of Prophy Paste

Chapter 1: Understanding Prophy Paste

A prophylactic paste, commonly called prophy paste, is a specialized abrasive compound used by dental professionals to clean and polish teeth. It is not a toothpaste. Toothpaste is designed for daily home use by untrained individuals, and its formulations are carefully balanced to minimize abrasion on enamel under repetitive brushing. Prophy paste, on the other hand, is a professional-grade instrument used for a few minutes, a few times a year, by a trained clinician. This difference in context is the single most important fact about prophy paste. Because it is used infrequently and under controlled conditions, its abrasivity can be dramatically higher than that of any consumer toothpaste. This allows it to remove deposits and stains that a toothbrush simply cannot touch.

To understand what prophy paste is, you must understand its job. The job is two-fold: to clean and to polish. Cleaning, in the dental sense, means the removal of the acquired pellicle, plaque, and extrinsic stains from the tooth surface. Extrinsic stains are those on the surface of the tooth, as opposed to intrinsic stains which are inside the tooth structure. Common extrinsic stains include those from coffee, tea, red wine, and tobacco. The acquired pellicle is a thin, tenacious film of salivary glycoproteins that forms on all teeth within minutes of cleaning. It is this pellicle that stains and to which plaque bacteria adhere. Polishing, the second part of the job, is about refining the surface. A polished tooth is smoother, which