How is teeth scaling done

Your dentist will then begin root planing, smoothing out your teeth roots to help your gums reattach to your teeth. Scaling and root planing may take more than one visit to complete and may require a local anesthetic. After a deep cleaning, you may have pain for a day or two and teeth sensitivity for up to a week.

Your gums also may be swollen, feel tender and bleed. To prevent infection, control pain or help you heal, your dentist may prescribe a pill or mouth rinse. If you have healthy gums, the tissue will fit tightly around the tooth and keep plaque out. However, if gum disease begins to form, this tissue will loosen. Healthy gums attach to the tooth just 1 to 3 millimeters below the gumline.

These can fill with plaque, worsening your problems and causing symptoms like bad breath. If you have pockets of 4 millimeters or more, your dentist will probably recommend dental scaling to remove the plaque beneath the gumline and help treat the gum disease. There are two basic methods for scaling teeth. If your dentist uses handheld instruments, he or she will scrape plaque from the tooth using a metal tool known as a dental scaler and curette.

Alternately, your dentist may choose an ultrasonic instrument to scale your teeth. This features a vibrating metal tip combined with a cool water spray. The tip chips tartar away as the water flushes out the pocket. Dental scaling is typically followed by a procedure known as root planing. This is done in the same manner as scaling. This involves scraping the plaque from your teeth and in any large pockets that have developed between your teeth and gums.

Next, your dentist will do the root planing. Your dentist will smooth the tooth roots using a scaling tool. This smoothing helps your gums to reattach to your teeth. Your dentist may also recommend additional treatment depending on the health of your teeth and gums. Your dentist may use antimicrobial agents in your mouth or prescribe oral antibiotics for you to take for several days to help you heal faster.

Your dentist may also perform a process called host modulation in which additional medication is administered directly into your gums to help correct the negative effects of long-term periodontitis or reduce the chances of infection following your procedure. Traditional tools are typically used to perform the procedure, including a scaler and a curette. But there are other instruments available for teeth scaling, such as lasers and ultrasonic devices.

Your dentist may also recommend a full mouth disinfection. A study concluded that new tools and procedures for teeth scaling and root planing are no more effective than traditional methods.

A review of 72 journal articles on these procedures found that they improved the pocket gap between teeth and gums by. By reducing the pockets that develop between your teeth and gums through teeth scaling and root planing, you will reduce your risk of experiencing tooth, bone, and tissue loss associated with chronic periodontal disease. The risks of teeth scaling are minimal. You may be at risk for infection following the procedure, so your dentist may prescribe an antibiotic or a special mouthwash to use for a few days or weeks.

Then dentists do a procedure called root planing , in which the exposed surfaces of roots are smoothed to remove inflammatory agents like calculus, microorganisms, and toxins promoting reattachment to the gums. The goal of deep scaling and root planing is to treat periodontitis, or gum disease, optimally causing the disease to go into remission.

Studies show deep scaling and root planing to be an extremely effective non-surgical procedures for the treatment of gum disease. Deep scaling is only done when gum disease is present. Typically, early stage gum disease is treated with a professional dental cleaning. When disease has advanced, is when we incorporate deep scaling and root planing into treatment.