When you go for periodontal maintenance, the hygienist will remove tartar just like with a regular cleaning. They'll get in between your teeth and down to your gums. This is known as scaling and root planing. In addition, they'll examine the pockets of your gums.
You dentist will give you a local anesthetic, either in the form of a gel or an injection, so you shouldn't feel any pain during the procedure. In the week or so after your treatment you may find that your gums feel sore and swollen, and your teeth may feel sensitive.
Preparing for your deep teeth cleaning appointment
Clean the mouth before the appointment: Brushing teeth and disinfecting the mouth with an antiseptic mouthwash helps reduce the risk of infection.
WHAT TO EXPECT: Following periodontal treatment, expect the treated area to be sore and tender to touch for 4-7 days. Swelling, discomfort, and bleeding may occur depending on the extent of the treatment and location in the mouth. BLEEDING & SWELLING: The treated area may bleed and be tender when you clean your teeth.
What does a deep cleaning entail? In scaling, your periodontist will use a hand-held dental scaler to manually scrape the plaque from your teeth above and below your gum line. They may also use an ultrasonic tool with a vibrating metal tip, plus a water spray to wash tartar away.
You can eat as soon as you feel ready to do so. But this is if you only had a deep dental cleaning. If your dentist did a cleaning and a fluoride treatment, you'll have to wait for at least thirty minutes. Fluoride treatments are often done to help make your teeth stronger.
Depending on the severity of the case, a patient's gums may be tender for a few days afterward. However, this is the most effective way to treat mild to moderate periodontitis and prevent future damage. Once all plaque, bacteria, and calculus have been removed, the gums and teeth can begin to heal.
Your gums and teeth will be sensitive immediately following your deep cleaning. Watch what you eat and avoid food or drink that may cause irritation. Hot or cold foods, hard or sharp foods, and anything that requires excessive chewing should be avoided for around 48 hours.
Avoid sticky, hard (such as ice cubes, nuts, popcorn, chips), brittle, spicy, highly seasoned, or acidic foods in your diet. Foods such as soups, pasta, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese etc. are best.
Remain Cautious about the Food You Have after Deep Cleaning
Therefore you must avoid any foods that might disrupt your healing—avoiding acidic foods like oranges and tomatoes, challenging foods like steaks, sharp and crunchy foods like chips, and foods with tiny pieces that might get lodged in your gums.
Once your periodontal treatment has been completed, your dentist and dental hygienist will recommend that you have regular maintenance cleanings (periodontal cleanings), usually four times a year. At these cleaning appointments, the pocket depths will be carefully checked to ensure that they are healthy.
Periodontal maintenance is only needed for people who have periodontal disease, so if your oral health is in great shape, you won't need to get a deep cleaning. Deep cleaning is performed to stop periodontal disease from advancing.
As far as the treated areas of the mouth, brush the surface of the teeth and avoid the gums as much as possible. We also recommend avoiding an electric toothbrush for a few weeks after the procedure, as this will make it easier to control the motions and avoid painful spots.
Each session can take up to two hours, and things run more efficiently when the patient is calm and relaxed. Only about a quarter to half of the patient's mouth is deep cleaned during a session. Most patients will have to come back for at least one additional session to have all of their teeth deep cleaned.
With gum disease, you won't keep your teeth for long. In fact, unlike tooth decay which impacts your smile one tooth at a time, periodontitis can cause you to lose multiple, if not all, teeth at once. Gum disease starts small as a mild form called gingivitis.
Depending on the case, cleaning the gum pockets takes about 1,5 to 2,5 hours. The aftercare takes about 30 minutes. Periodontal disease itself cannot be cured, but healing takes about a month after treatment.
A deep teeth cleaning should take between 1-4 hours. First, your hygienist will numb you by injecting a local anesthetic. Sometimes, the hygienist will need one hour per quadrant to do the proper scaling and root planing of all the root surfaces in one quadrant.
Drinking water helps to prevent cavities and gum disease by washing away dangerous germs and food debris. Water is beneficial to your teeth because it keeps your mouth clean. Plaque cannot form in a mouth that is clean and moisturized.
Some dentists prescribe oral or topical antibiotics following a deep cleaning to target and reduce inflammation and bacteria. Antibiotics have been shown effective at treating gum disease at every stage.
It depends on how severe the receding gums are, as if they are only minimally receded, then the gums will reattach themselves to the teeth. While any gum loss experienced due to gum disease will not grow back, the majority of patients can expect their gums to reattach after undergoing a deep cleaning.
This is a difficult question to answer, as it depends on the severity of your gum disease. You may need only a one-hour long office visit, or you could need a two-hour appointment; some patients need multiple appointments because we determine it's best to do one quadrant of the mouth at a time.
MAINTENANCE. After scaling and root planing is completed, we recommend frequent cleanings (3-4 months) to ensure your periodontal health does not regress. These appointments allow your hygienist time to clean under the gums and are very important to stabilize your periodontal disease to help you keep your teeth healthy ...
Try gargling a warm saltwater solution or rinsing your mouth with an antimicrobial mouthwash a few times a day to keep the gums clean and to reduce swelling/inflammation. Don't overexert yourself while you're healing. Allow a few days to relax and rest your mouth.
A general rule of thumb is to wait for at least 30 to 60 minutes after your teeth cleaning to consume any food or drinks, but you should avoid drinking coffee for a few hours.