Have you been diagnosed with periodontal disease? This gum infection that can arise in your mouth is important not to ignore. There are treatment options that can help you battle this oral disease to help make sure you don’t lose your teeth to it. Thanks to modern technology, therapeutic scaling and root planing can be completed by our team to restore your healthy gums.
What is Periodontal Disease?
Your teeth are anchored in the jawbone so you can bite, eat and chew your food. Your teeth are connected to the jawbone with supportive tissues that keep them from falling out. In the early stages of periodontal disease or gingivitis, good care of your gums can even reverse the condition by stepping up your oral hygiene game and dental visits that remove damaging tartar around the gum line. If gum disease isn’t properly treated, allowing the infection to worsen, then you’ll need periodontal intervention.
What Causes Periodontal Disease
-Lax brushing and flossing habits
-Chronic smoking or chewing tobacco
-Diseases like diabetes
-Medications for blood pressure and cardiovascular disease
-Chronic stress
-Poor nutrition
-Family history of gum disease
What is Scaling and Root Planing
This treatment is the common line of defense when treating periodontal disease. It is a non-surgical deep cleaning that effectively gets rid of harmful tartar, plaque (biofilm), and oral bacteria by scrubbing the teeth around and under the gumline, including the tooth roots. This simple but effective treatment also helps boost gum tissue’s regeneration so it can surround the tooth to keep it solidly in place.
What to Expect
The goal of scaling and root planing is to thoroughly remove all plaque, hardened tartar, or calculus, and clean stains off of the teeth and the roots. Usually performed in two visits as the cleaning is divided into two upper and lower quadrants on one side of the mouth and then the next set at your second cleaning visit. First, you’ll be given local anesthesia that numbs the area being worked on so you won’t feel anything.
Scaling
For the scaling part of your treatment, we will perform a subgingival scaling that involves clearing out plaque and calculus. This will be done under (and in between) the gums, the base of a dental crown, and around the roots of the tooth, using special tools like an ultrasonic tool or manual one. Remember, this is important, as you can’t remove this material yourself at home.
Planing
Next comes the root planing part of your treatment. Because untreated periodontitis damages the tooth’s cementum (a calcified film covering your tooth’s root) and dentin (the second layer of a tooth underneath the enamel), a root planing allows our clinician to smooth out rough surfaces and clear out any bacteria underneath the gums, between the gums and the basal part of your teeth’s crowns. Carefully cleaning deeply under the gums and especially the roots of the teeth and bone where the infection exists is essential.
Follow-up Appointment and Maintenance
A re-evaluation of your response to the scaling and root planing will take place approximately 6 weeks following the treatment. Pending your results, our specialists may recommend a predictable periodontal maintenance schedule. If you have any questions about your gum health, we welcome you to give us a call and speak to one of our team members!