Gum disease is a serious oral health condition caused by the development of harmful plaque over your teeth. If not cleaned and treated properly, this can cause a deep infection in your gums and lead to gum recession, exposing your gum pockets to plaque and bacteria. In order to clean your gum pockets properly, you may require scaling and root planing treatment for deeper infections.

Often during your regular checkups and cleanings, our dentist may provide a simple scaling treatment to remove plaque from your gumline. However, if your mouth is infected with gum disease, you may require another type of cleaning called scaling and root planing. This process first involves the scaling portion, which removes all the plaque and tartar from both above and below your gumline. From there, our dentist will perform the root planing, which cleans the roots of your teeth and smooths the surface to remove any harmful bacteria. This can also encourage your gums to reattach to your teeth and improve the overall health of your smile. If your gum tissue responds well to the treatment, your gums will start to appear healthy and pink again. In other conditions, you may require further treatment or other forms of periodontal therapy like antibiotic treatment.

We invite you to learn more about scaling and root planing today by contacting our office with any of your questions. We look forward to hearing from you!