The beauty of your smile and tooth functionality hinges on the health of the gum tissue and teeth. If you have an oral concern like periodontal disease, the gum tissue begins to bleed and recede, increasing the risk of tooth loss and infection spreading to the bloodstream. When your dentist notices symptoms of gum disease, with the gum tissue receding, they recommend deep cleaning, otherwise known as scaling and planing, to halt the spread of the infection. The procedure entails professional cleaning of tooth root surfaces to remove plaque and tartar around the teeth, periodontal pockets, and smooth the roots to eliminate toxic bacteria. Here is what you should know about deep cleaning if considering the treatment.

Deep Cleaning Definition

Deep cleaning or scaling and root planing (SCRP) stops or prevents the spread of active periodontal disease. The treatment removes the calculus and plaque in the periodontal pockets and tooth root surfaces. It goes past the professional cleaning you undergo during biannual dental visits, as it focuses on removing toxic and harmful bacterial infections from the targeted areas using advanced and specialized tools.

Scaling entails removing stains, tartar, and plaque on the tooth surfaces or crowns. In contrast, root planing entails removing the rough cementum surface contaminated with harmful bacteria and tartar to enable the gum tissue to attach easily and prevent future plaque buildup and production of toxic microorganisms. The deep cleaning aims to keep the mouth healthy by removing calculus and plaque, which are sources of harmful bacteria in the mouth.

Gum disease involves the inflammation of the gums as the body attempts to fight bacterial infection. The primary cause of periodontal disease is plaque accumulation, which hardens to rough porus substances that release toxins if not removed. These irritate the soft tissue, causing it to loosen and pull away from the teeth, creating periodontal pockets. These pockets further accumulate food debris, becoming a breeding ground for toxic bacteria, which causes infection. If the infection is not addressed, the pockets deepen, spreading to the bones and eventually causing edentulism or tooth loss.

Regular vs Deep Cleaning

Dental patients often confuse deep cleaning with regular cleaning, with many assuming deep cleaning is the same as regular dental cleaning. However, the two are different. So, if you want to stop the spread of periodontitis, do you go for deep or regular cleaning? In regular professional teeth cleaning, the dentist only cleans the tooth surfaces above the gumline and removes the gum edges of isolated plaque. The preventative treatment helps remove buildup that cannot be removed with the standard brushing and flossing, preventing gingivitis or its advancement into moderate gum disease.

However, when you fail to visit the dentist regularly for the deep cleaning, brushing will not eliminate all the plaque on the tooth surface above the gumline. This sticky, colorless layer hardens and spreads to the area under the gums, releasing a toxic substance that breaks down and loosens the gum fibers surrounding the tooth, deep pockets are formed, breeding grounds for bacteria, leading to advanced gum disease and eventually tooth loss. Therefore, therapeutic deep cleaning or SCRP is performed to reverse an active gum disease where the periodontal pockets exist. The milder gum disease known as gingivitis is much easier to reverse.

When your dental provider diagnoses you with periodontal disease, deep cleaning is mandatory. Basic preventative dental cleaning, usually performed by your dentist during routine checkups, is not sufficient to reach areas under the gums and extract calculus buildup. So, you need an extensive cleaning that removes the tartar beneath the gingival line because. Dental cleaning does not remove tartar and toxic microorganisms produced beneath the gum margin, allowing the spread of infection into the jawbone and bloodstream. The visible areas of the crown or teeth above the gingival line could appear pearly white, but the foundation made up of the jawbone, tooth root, and gum fibers could be crumbling, leading to tooth loss.

Therefore, dental experts recommend deep cleaning or SCRP for periodontitis, particularly when the periodontal pockets caused by gum disease are deeper than 3 mm. Also, deep cleaning will be necessary when you exhibit multiple periodontal disease symptoms or an X-ray during an oral examination shows the presence of tartar below the gum margin. Dental cleaning under these circumstances would be ineffective.

Reasons for Deep Cleaning

When your gum disease is characterized by receding gums with deep periodontal pockets and a shrunken jawbone, your family dentist, general dentist, or dental hygienist can suggest deep cleaning to reverse the gum disease. When these symptoms manifest, it indicates massive calculus buildup below the gingival line and on the tooth roots.

Advanced gum disease or periodontitis is irreversible, unlike gingivitis, which can be reversed with regular dental cleaning and standard brushing. With periodontal disease, you must undergo a deep cleaning procedure where the plaque and calculus on the tooth root are removed and the rough dentin surfaces that trap toxic microorganisms are smoothened to remove contamination, allow the gum tissue to reattach, and minimize the risk of future infection.

Signs You Need a Deep Cleaning Procedure

You require a deep cleaning or SCRP procedure if you are experiencing symptoms of advanced gum disease or periodontitis. Mild gum disease, reversible with professional dental cleaning and proper oral hygiene, is much easier to correct than periodontitis. Periodontal disease requires a more involved treatment.

Mild gum disease or gingivitis is complex to catch because the condition is in its early stages, and the symptoms are hardly noticeable. The best way to identify these symptoms is through regular dental visits, at least twice a year. When identified early, gingivitis can be managed using minimally invasive treatments like dental cleaning and good dental hygiene. So, you can prevent the disease or minimize the risk of gingivitis through regular dental visits for examination and dental cleaning.

When the gum disease is advanced and deep pockets are forming between the soft tissue and the teeth, the gum disease is advanced. Your dental professional will recommend deep cleaning as a treatment. Apart from deep pockets of at least .4mm, other indications that you have periodontitis are:

  • Bleeding soft tissue
  • Bone loss
  • Gum inflammation
  • Gaps between the teeth
  • Bite changes
  • Permanent teeth movement or loss
  • Halitosis
  • Food debris sticking in the gums
  • Pain or discomfort in the teeth and soft tissue
  • Red and tender gum tissue

Some of these symptoms, like calculus accumulation beneath the gum line and on the cementum surface, loss of jawbone mass, and deep pockets, will require a thorough examination for diagnosis. X-rays and advanced tools could also be utilized to determine the extent of the disease and classify it as mild, moderate, or severe.

With symptoms sometimes not exhibiting themselves, it becomes challenging to diagnose the condition, causing it to advance, leading to loose teeth, tooth loss, and loss of jawbone mass. 

Periodontal disease symptoms vary from one patient to another. The symptoms that a smoker experiences can be different from those of an ordinary dental patient. So, the right way to know you require a deep cleaning is to visit your dental provider for an evaluation and further guidance. Find a dentist with advanced tools and technology to assess your gums for an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.

Systemic Complications Associated with Periodontitis

Advanced periodontal disease has been linked to several systemic conditions, like:

  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Negative pregnancy results, like stillbirths and preeclampsia
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Infertility
  • Respiratory diseases
  • Unregulated blood sugar in dental patients with diabetes

Most of these conditions develop when the infection enters the bloodstream in advanced stages. Therefore, seeking treatment can prevent serious oral and overall health complications.

Preparing for Deep Cleaning

In the initial consultation, your dental provider evaluates your soft tissue and plaque accumulation to determine if you suffer from a periodontal concern. The expert utilizes a periodontal probe to measure the distance between the sulcus, the V-shaped, shallow grooves between the teeth, and the gum line. Even healthy teeth form a sulcus with a maximum depth of 3 mm. If they are deeper than 3 mm, it is a sign of tartar buildup under the gum margin that cannot be removed with the standard dental cleaning performed during biannual dental visits. 

Once the dentist discovers periodontal pockets, the next step is to identify the location of tartar beneath the gingival line. The identification can be done using a special light in a visual examination. Alternatively, the dentist can use a jet of air, which lifts the gum tissue from the tooth surface to enable the dentist to see the calculus deposits on the tooth root. The dentist can also use an explorer to identify tartar.

After tartar identification, the dentist could suggest an antiseptic mouthwash to deter cold sores after the procedure, prevent contagious bacteria transmission, and prevent recurrence of the bacterial infection.

Other dental providers recommend low-carb diets and oral probiotics to reduce inflammation after treatment.

Actual SCRP Procedure

When you come in for the deep cleaning procedure, your dentist will administer mild sedation to numb the site of the jaw where the cleaning is to happen. Besides, the dentist can use local anesthesia to stabilize the membrane and reduce discomfort and bleeding during the scaling and planing.

With local anesthesia, the dentist injects the drug at the cleaning site, and within five minutes, you start to lose sensation in the area.

Once the site is numbed, the dentist starts with the scaling procedure, which entails removal of the calculus and plaque above the gingival line or in the subgingival area. The dentist can utilize a tiny scaler or ultrasonic cleaner to remove the buildup at the base of the teeth and in the periodontal pockets. The scaler is inserted in the pocket at a 45 or 90 degree angle of the tooth and cleans the tooth to remove calculus and plaque. This step is performed cautiously because the sharp tip of the tool used can injure the soft tissue. Once the dentist is sure all the calculus on the tooth surface and in the periodontal pockets has been removed, the procedure moves to the next step, which is planing.

Root planing entails cleaning of the tooth root to remove tartar and plaque trapped in these surfaces. The procedure also entails smoothing of the cementum or tooth root surface to remove any contamination by microorganisms or bacteria trapped in these rough surfaces.

Depending on the severity of your condition and the number of affected teeth, the procedure could be performed in two phases.

Once the deep cleaning is complete, the dentist applies local antibiotics and antimicrobials directly into the planed pockets to kill any remaining bacteria to control future infection and enable quick recovery.

Your dental provider will require you to return to the clinic after two to four weeks for a follow-up examination. During the visit, the dentist measures the pockets to determine if the gums are reattaching to the tooth surface. They will also develop a maintenance plan depending on the progress made with the treatment.

When the response you were expecting from the deep cleaning is not achieved or the periodontal resource is severe and cannot be handled using the resources at the disposal of your dental provider, they will refer you to a periodontist. These experts use advanced technology and can perform a gum tissue flap surgery to allow for thorough cleaning and ensure the deep cleaning procedure is successful.

Recovery and Aftercare

For the deep cleaning procedure to be successful, you must adhere to your dentist’s post-procedure instructions. Your main goal after the treatment is to prevent an infection relapse or new plaque and calculus buildup. So, make it a habit to brush your teeth twice daily to eliminate food particles in the mouth, thus preventing plaque and tartar buildup, which produce harmful bacteria that cause gum disease. Brushing alone will not reach certain surfaces of the teeth. So, you can incorporate water flossers in your brushing to remove plaque and food particles trapped in dental pockets.

Similarly, visit your dental provider regularly for an oral examination. These will enable your dental expert to identify signs of periodontal disease and remove calculus and plaque through dental cleaning.

Find a Reputable Advanced Dentistry Service Near Me

Regular dental cleaning focuses on removing calculus and plaque above the gingival margins, making it more preventative than therapeutic. Therefore, if you have been diagnosed with periodontitis, deep cleaning or SCRP, and not regular cleaning, will be necessary. It removes buildup below the gingival line and smooths cementum surfaces to prevent new buildup or infection relapse. At Los Angeles Advanced Dentistry, we can answer all your questions on deep cleaning and determine whether it is necessary for your gum disease. Call us today at 310-361-2080 to speak to our dental providers.