Tartar is a yellowish-brown, mineralised organic structure that affects the surface of teeth and hard surfaces in the mouth. Commonly known as “calculus”, tartar is actually the result of the mineralisation process of plaque.
Plaque doesn't spare anyone! It can appear in children with milk teeth, adolescents, adults, and even the elderly with prosthetic appliances.
It forms on all hard surfaces in the oral cavity, on crowns, on fillings, and on dental appliances.
Tartar generally appears in areas bathed abundantly by saliva, i.e. on the lower incisors and the buccal surfaces of the upper posterior teeth.
The lower teeth suffer more from tartar deposits because the saliva produced by the sublingual glands is richer in salts.
Initial, incompletely mineralised tartar is soft in consistency, is removed quite easily, and its colour is yellowish-white. As mineral sediments are deposited, it calcifies and is pigmented, taking on a brownish-maroon colour.
This mineralised deposit presents in two clinical forms: supragingival calculus and subgingival calculus.
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