Periodontal Maintenance
Sometimes people are referred to Cornelius Dental Clinic for Periodontal Prophylaxis – periodontal maintenance. Many people don’t understand what this procedure is though. However, before you have this procedure done, you may want to know a little more about it.
Why Periodontal Maintenance Is Necessary
If you’re susceptible to developing gum/periodontal disease, you’ll need to have some periodontal care for your teeth. The bacteria from the gum disease and plaque will produce toxins (poisons) that will constantly attack your teeth and gums. When it isn’t removed, it’ll turn hard and become tartar or calculus. This is a deposit on your teeth, that’s both rough and porous in nature.
When you have periodontal maintenance conducted, we’ll remove this tartar from your teeth through a form of deep cleaning. This is more intense than what you’d receive during a normal dental cleaning. After we’ve finished this cleaning, you’re not finished because you’ll need this treatment again in the future. This is because now you have “pockets” that have formed around your teeth. As such, you’ll need to visit our office and have this performed more frequently than the typical every 6-month cleaning.
The Difference Between Periodontal Maintenance And The Typical Cleaning
Sometimes periodontal maintenance is referred to as “scaling and root planing.” With this type of cleaning, we’ll clean those pockets that are located between your teeth and gums since this is where plaque and tartar commonly form. It’s an intensive cleaning that restores your bone and gum health, so they’re maintained well into the future.
Unlike a regular cleaning, with periodontal maintenance, we don’t polish your teeth. Instead, we’re concerned with removing debris like bacteria and tartar from beneath your gumline. This is important because you want these pockets to heal so that your teeth don’t grow loose and fall out of your mouth. Unfortunately, this isn’t something you’ll be able to do by simply brushing and flossing your teeth or with normal dental cleaning.
The length of this whole process will vary depending on the severity of your plaque and tartar. The more that needs to be removed, the longer the procedure will take. While you may only need a 90-minute appointment, it’s possible you’ll need a few appointments. These appointments will need to be spaced a few weeks apart to give your mouth time to heal.
Healing After Receiving Periodontal Maintenance
Once you’ve received this type of treatment, your gums will need a week to heal. You’ll know that this has happened because your gums won’t be so red, swollen, or bloody. However, your next appointment with us won’t be for about 6 weeks. At this time, we’ll use a special tool to measure the pockets in your gums (like we do at a regular dental cleaning) so we can tell that they’re healthy again. We’ll also look to make sure your gum tissue has regrown, but you should know that any bone loss you’ve undergone won’t regenerate.
This isn’t a procedure that you should be fearful of. So, contact Cornelius Dental Clinic at (971) 317-9323 and let our team help you get healthy again starting today.