Dental deep cleaning: scaling and root planing in Mid-town East, New York

Gum disease treatments vary depending on the severity of your case. Just like when waging war, the more sophisticated your enemy, the more advanced your weapons need to be.

It all starts with an initial consultation by Dr. Michael Reshad, our periodontist.

He will first evaluate to see if there is gum disease and how advanced it has become. If it has not progressed significantly, then a regular professional cleaning with our hygienist might be effective and sufficient to reverse the trend.

Dr. Reshad will also advise you on how to improve your oral hygiene and may recommend special kinds of toothpaste and /or oral rinses.

At this stage, you wonder what course of action Dr. Reshad would take if your gum disease has evolved beyond the early stages.

Well, he will usually start with non-surgical deep-cleaning methods such as scaling and root planing. This treats early to moderate stages of gum disease.

The procedure involves removing tartar and plaque from your teeth and their roots, mainly below your gum line (hence the term deep):

• Scaling removes tartar and the bacteria that produce harmful biochemicals. These lead to your gums receding and pulling away from your teeth.
• Root planing tackles the same problem of tartar and bacterial build-up but from a different angle. This procedure smooths and debrides your teeth’ root surfaces. Hence the accumulation of tartar and bacteria to these previously rough spots will become more difficult.

These deep-cleaning procedures are often effective in returning the gums to proper health and allow your gums to heal. They are essential at stopping the progression of gum disease and avoiding tooth loss.

Dental deep cleaning: practical aspects

How long do these treatments take?

You will generally need two visits to complete scaling and root planning. Each appointment will last about 45 minutes on average.

Even if your gums are very inflamed, the procedures will be pain-free. And that’s because Dr. Reshad will use a local anesthetic and/or a topical desensitizer.

The objective of these procedures is:

1. To successfully remove any tartar and plaque below the gum line. Dr. Reshad will use special instruments, which may include hand scalers and/or ultrasonic scalers.
2. To complete the cleaning and removal of the debris by using a special antibiotic called
   Arestin, applied to the treated areas.

The purpose of the antibiotic is:

• To kill bacteria that have been left unscathed by the scalers
• To protect against disease progression since Arestin has been explicitly created against the bacteria that cause gum disease.

But what about advanced cases of periodontal disease where deep cleaning is no longer sufficient?

To find out, check our articles Pocket reduction surgery and osseous surgery and Advanced periodontal disease: gum graft and gum disease surgery.