Medical Insider–Dr Rhoda entero

Why Is Dental Scaling and Polishing Done?

PART 5 

There are two methods of Scaling. As established previously, dental scaling is the careful removal of plaque, tartar, and bacteria from the tooth’s surface that’s below the gum line before you start experiencing horrible symptoms like loose teeth that are wiggling like milk teeth that are about to fall off as well as tooth loss. 

With that said, there are two scaling methods available to you. The first one involves your dentist scraping plaque and diseased gum and tooth tissue with a metal tool known as a curette or dental scaler. The scaler is something that’s inserted below the gum line in order to access pockets and gaps that your toothbrush can never traverse. 

The second scaling technique involves your dental professional using an ultrasonic instrument instead. This advanced tool has a vibrating metal tip with a cool water spray that drills apart the hardened tartar, diseased material, and plaque bacteria in one fell swoop like a dental drill made for scaling and polishing. It’s also clean because all the bacteria get pooled into the water you’re supposed to spit out.

What About Root Planing? Root planing usually follows dental scaling as the last optional step in the deep cleaning service. Sometimes your gingivitis or periodontal disease hasn’t worsened enough to resort to this step. Other times, it’s an essential step after scaling is finished. This deep dental cleaning is approached like scaling and reaches even deeper into the gum line in order to access the tooth root and smoothen out its surface. It also removes diseased material, this time from the root itself.

This is necessary in order to remove the bacterial spread, promote healing, and ensure that the gums can reattach themselves to the surface of the root properly. 

Your gums and tooth can’t regenerate as long as the infected areas remain or the bacteria keep on spreading. Like with scaling, root planing can involve manual use of the curette or automated use of the vibrating ultrasonic instrument with a metal tip and cool water spray. Just remember to spit that water full of bacteria and diseased material out so that you won’t suffer from an infection elsewhere in your body.

To Summarize

For patients with gum disease, dental scaling and polishing are standard operating procedures. Scaling in particular is a dental cleaning variant that’s more advanced that prophylaxis exactly because it reaches below the gum line to remove the buildup of plaque. The processes of scaling, polishing, and root planing your teeth are collectively known as deep cleaning. It goes beyond general dental cleaning you get from your annual visit or regular checkup.

When you’re in need of scaling, that usually means you’ve neglected to address your early stage gingivitis and allowed it to become full-blown periodontal disease, thus necessitating more severe measures. Also remember that scaling and planing as well as polishing might take more than one visit, with each of them addressing a different portion of your mouth. There are dentists who divide the mouth by quadrants to methodically tackle each and every one.