Teeth Scaling & Root Planing | Tartar Removal | Treatment of Periodontal Disease

Scaling and root planning help to treat chronic periodontal disease (otherwise known as gum disease). They are more in-depth than a typical teeth cleaning.

Teeth scaling and root planning often take more than one dental visit and could require a local anesthetic based on the severity of your chronic periodontal disease and if you have receding gums.

Teeth Scaling has been defined as instrumentation to remove all supragingival uncalcified and calcified accretions and all gross subgingival accretions. This mechanical removal of calcified deposits (calculus) on teeth has been the gold standard for periodontal therapy for centuries. Indeed, there was a time when this was the mainstay of non-surgical periodontal treatment, with the emphasis placed on the removal of all calculus, rather than the dental biofilm.

Root planning has been defined as instrumentation to remove the microbial flora on the root surface or lying free in the pocket, all flecks of calculus and all contaminated cementum and dentine. The aim is to remove the softened cementum so that the root surface is made hard and smooth. The rationale for root planning was based on the notion that once the root surface became exposed to the subgingival environment in periodontitis, it underwent both structural and pathological changes.

Teeth scaling and root planing can be done at your dentist’s office as an outpatient procedure.