Dental Cleaning
A dental cleaning is cleaning done on your teeth by a dental hygienist or a dentist every six months to maintain your teeth healthy and beautiful. A dental cleaning appointment should take between 30 to 45 minutes. Cleaning not only cleans plaque and calculus from your teeth but also helps cardiovascular and general health. Dental cleaning appointment includes scaling and polishing. At the end of the appointment fluoride varnish or gel may be applied to the teeth to relieve sensitiveness and prevent caries.
What is Scaling?
Scaling is the process of using hand scaler, ultrasonic scaler or piezo scaler to remove plaque and calculus from all tooth surfaces.
How is Scaling done?
Dental professionals can perform scaling by hand or with electric scalers. New technology allows them to do the more efficient cleaning with piezoelectric or ultrasonic scalers. Piezoelectric scalers allow more comfortable cleanings with less pain. For best results, both electric and manual scaling method can be used to perform more thorough dental cleanings.
What to expect during the Dental Cleaning visit?
- During the first appointment, our doctor will determine whether your health history will be affected by the dental cleaning. In patients with serious illnesses like heart disease or joint replacement, additional antibiotic prophylaxis may be necessary. It will be the patient’s physician who will determine and prescribe prophylaxis as needed. As per recommendation, antibiotics are taken 1 hour before the dental cleaning appointment to ensure adequate blood levels of medication.
- Our goal is to take as fewer x-rays as possible and at the same time, it is important to take enough x-rays to have diagnostic material. We use digital X-rays that uses much less radiation than traditional film x-rays. X-rays along with clinical examination help doctor to create a comprehensive dental treatment plan.
- Our doctor will do intra-oral (inside the mouth) and extra-oral (outside the mouth) examination. The examination includes oral cancer screening, evaluation of dentition (teeth) and gums. Teeth are evaluated for decay, fracture, erosion, abrasion, wear facets, etc. Gums are checked for periodontal disease by evaluating pocket depths with a periodontal probe.
- After a thorough examination and with the help of digital x-rays, our doctor will create a comprehensive dental treatment plan. Treatment plan includes periodontal treatments like Dental Cleaning or Deep Cleaning and restorative treatments like Dental Implants, Root Canal Treatment, Dental Bonding, Dental Veneers, Dental Crowns, Dental Bridges, Dentures, Extractions, etc. Our doctor will determine the priority of the treatment with the patient and will make a plan to the number of visits needed for the treatment.
- At the end of treatment planning, dental cleaning is done. In some cases with the need for extensive deep cleaning, the patient may be scheduled at the later date as more time will be needed to do a thorough dental cleaning. Dental cleaning involves few steps. First, the bigger plaque and calculus is removed with an ultrasonic scaler. Then, hand scaler is used to remove plaque between teeth and in tight spaces. Finally, prophylaxis paste (coarse paste) is used to polish teeth and flossing is done. At the end of the dental cleaning appointment, our doctor will review the brushing techniques and reinforce oral hygiene methods.
Types of Dental Cleaning
Prophylaxis
Prophylaxis is a routine dental cleaning that is performed every 6 months on recall appointment. Prophylaxis removes plaque and calculus that is accumulated above the gum margin. Prophylaxis is used to treat gingivitis with probing depth up to 3 mm.
Scaling and Root Planning
Scaling and root planning is also known as deep cleaning. It is performed to treat more severe gum disease called periodontitis. Peridontitis affects the bone under the gums and creates pockets greater than 3mm. Scaling and root planning is started by anesthetizing the upper and lower gums and then several hand curettes are used do root planning. The goal of the treatment is to achieve smooth root surface devoid of plaque and calculus. Smooth root surface helps enable attachment of gums to the tooth surface.
Periodontal Maintenance
Scaling and root planning is followed by periodontal maintenance every 3-4 months. Our doctor will determine depending on the plaque level and gum disease, whether a periodontal maintenance or prophylaxis will be needed on next visit. If a patient has good oral hygiene, periodontal maintenance is switched over to prophylaxis. Conversely, if a patient doesn’t have good oral hygiene, periodontal maintenance will be continued every 3-4 months.
Full Mouth Debridement
In rare cases, cleaning may be necessary to remove severe calculus before any treatment can be rendered to the patient. In such cases, cleaning is done to remove all the overgrown calculus. Additional cleaning will be necessary once the exam is done after full mouth debridement.