Friday Mar 29, 2024

Regular Dental Cleaning Vs. Deep Teeth Cleaning: What’s the Difference?

Even if you happen to be someone who practices good oral hygiene, there’s still nothing like going to the dentist to get an annual dental cleaning. That’s because dentists are professionally trained and have all of the right tools to reach the areas that brushing and flossing simply cannot get to.

However, during your routine check-up, there may be times when, after consulting with your dentist, they will actually recommend that you have a deep teeth cleaning instead. If you’re interested in knowing what the main differences are between a regular dental cleaning and a deep teeth cleaning, we have provided you with some additional information on both below:

Regular Dental Cleaning

Whenever we go to see our dentist for our annual check-up, usually they will clean our teeth. A regular dental cleaning procedure typically consists of removing tarter and mineralized plaque from our teeth with special dental tools. Sometimes a dentist will opt to do this manually (which can sometimes be a bit uncomfortable as the tools can sometimes gently scrape up against the gum line) or they will use what is known as a cavitron which is basically a sonic instrument. Once the plaque has been broken up, your dentist will then use a rotary tool in order to get rid of any remaining plaque that might be lodged in between your teeth or on the top of your gum line. This process does not require any local anesthesia and in most cases, it can be completed within 30 minutes to an hour.

Deep Teeth Cleaning

If your dentist has diagnosed you with having periodontal disease, they will probably choose to go beyond a standard dental cleaning and instead, do some deep teeth cleaning. Being that individuals with periodontal disease (or even those simply do not see their dentist on a regular basis) tend to have a lot of plaque and calculus on their teeth and along their gum line, oftentimes dentists will opt to place them under local anesthesia. So, if you happen to be someone who needs a deep teeth cleaning, be prepared to pay a bit more for the service; however, if you want your mouth to heal from gum disease, it’s well worth the investment. Typically, what this process is called is scaling and root planning. The scaling involves removing the plaque and the planning consists of first removing some of the root’s surface and then getting rid of any part of the tooth’s structure that may be infected.

So, say that you go to a dental office like Pike Dentistry for your deep teeth cleaning. One of the main things to keep in mind about deep teeth cleaning is that since it was such an extensive form of treatment, once the anesthesia wears off, you will probably feel some discomfort for a couple of hours. However, some over-the-counter painkiller should alleviate the mild pain and rinsing your mouth out with a warm salt water solution should help to soothe it too. For more information on the benefits of deep teeth cleaning, contact your dentist.

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