One of the reasons why people fear visiting the dentist is that they think that all procedure hurts. Well, some of them do, but most don’t – especially now that a lot of advanced treatment technologies and equipment can offer you painless experience.
Dental cleaning is a process that definitely doesn’t hurt. There isn’t any pain when food debris and plaque are removed. But the common question that people have is how about deep cleaning, which gets rid of bacteria in the periodontal pockets?
Dental deep cleaning is a procedure your dentists will typically recommend and is a deeper form of a dental cleaning focused on cleaning your gum pockets by removing debris and toxic buildup.
The Reason Why You Should Clean Your Teeth?
Routine check-up and cleanings help to remove the plaque that builds up on your teeth every day. Most of this plaque is found near the gum line, where most of us miss when brushing. Plaque gets harden and form tartar and that is what your hygienists clean in a regular cleaning. If a proper tooth brushing technique isn’t followed, or if you have a predisposition to gum disease, your gums may show symptoms of gingivitis –swollen gums that bleed easily when touched. If left untreated, this can result in periodontal disease, an infection of the bone and gum which can lead to eventual tooth loss.
What is a deep teeth cleaning?
In a nutshell, a deep cleaning otherwise known as a dental scaling or root planing, is just a little bit deeper than a regular cleaning. Your dental hygienist cleans below the gum line removing toxins like calculus, tartar, and other substances that have stuck onto your tooth surfaces.
If these materials are not removed completely, the gum disease or the immune response of the gums, gets worse. This will lead to bleeding gums deeper and deeper gum pockets.
Keeping it for longer-term, if the pockets gets increasingly bigger it can cause tooth loss and even bone loss.
These deep dental cleaning is literally a planing or scraping surface of the root, which is below the gum line.
Who needs deep teeth cleaning?
Some signs of gum disease that may show up before your dentist identifies it at the checkup are:
- Bad breath
- Bleeding gums (gingivitis, or stage I periodontitis)
- Inflamed/sensitive gum tissue
- Tenderness when flossing
If you find any of these symptoms, book an appointment with your dentist straight away.
The deep dental cleaning is prescribed when your pockets are deeper than expected, which is the first symptom of periodontal disease beyond gingivitis. It’s done only after pocket readings are taken at a depth of more than 3 millimeters.
What to Expect During Deep Dental Cleaning?
A deep dental cleaning should take 1-4 hours. First, your hygienist will numb your gums using a local anesthetic. In some cases, the hygienist will take one hour per quadrant to do the proper scaling and root planing of all the roots.
What does a dental cleaning feel like?
The local anesthetic can numb your gums and prevent pain during the procedure.
Typically, patient will feel only a little sensitivity after deep dental cleaning, though some throbbing and achiness may occur in some cases. The roots of your teeth may be sensitive after the process, but this shouldn’t last a long time.
It’s important to address periodontitis as soon as your dentist points it out — which is just one reason that getting a regular cleaning every 6 months is important for everyone’s oral hygiene.
While it’s not possible to reverse the gum disease after it starts, you can obviously stop it in its tracks. It’s not a problem to ignore as according to studies, it reveals that 47-70% of adults over 30 have some form of gum disease. Contact 800-DRJOY(37569) or click here to schedule an appointment with our expert dentists at Dr. Joy Dental Clinic.
