Sometimes, a standard cleaning by a dental hygienist isn’t enough. If bacteria invades below your gumline, you’ll need a deep dental cleaning to restore your gums to health.
WHAT IS A DENTAL DEEP CLEANING?
Deep dental cleaning is also called periodontal scaling and root planning, or SRP. It’s similar to how a hygienist typically cleans your teeth but focuses on the outer surface of the roots and below your gum line. This special cleaning is needed when tartar buildup has caused infection of the gums. Pockets form, a widening of the gumline that has pulled away from the tooth. Loss of this connective tissue can lead to bone loss and, eventually, tooth loss.
Deep dental cleaning will control the infection and promote healing. As you may know, preventing infection and inflammation anywhere in your body—including your gums—is important to heart health and may help you live longer.
In scaling, your dentist or periodontist will use a hand-held dental scaler to manually scrape the plaque from your teeth above and below your gum line. Or he might use an ultrasonic tool with a vibrating metal tip plus a water spray to wash tartar away. Root planning is more of a rubbing motion, used to smooth rough spots on the roots of your teeth that promote gum disease by trapping bacteria. Planing will also help your cleaner, healthier gums reattach to your teeth.
GUM DISEASE
Periodontal (gum) disease is an infection of the tissues surrounding and supporting the teeth called the gums and is a major cause of tooth loss in adults. Sometimes periodontal disease has no warning signs and regular dental checkups are important in preventing gum disease.
HOW DO I KNOW I NEED DEEP DENTAL CLEANING?
You may notice some signs of infection requiring deep dental cleaning. Your gums may look red and swollen. They may be tender and bleed a little when you brush or floss. Or your teeth may appear longer than they used to—a sign that your gums are pulling away, an indicator of gum line recession. Your dentist will diagnose the problem by measuring any pockets that have formed with a special probe. This test is usually painless. Your dentist may also take x-rays to check for bone loss. If pockets are deeper than can be treated with a standard cleaning and good at-home care, you will need deep cleaning to clear the infection and promote healing. You may need scaling and planning in just a few spots or the problem may be widespread. Come in for a free dental checkup and X-Ray so that we can help you find out if you require a deep clean.
