scaling/root planing

lateeth

I had this done both by a regular dentist and by a periodontist. My husband just had one quad (1/4 of his mouth) done today by a dental hygienist. Sometimes they do 1/2 at a time, giving you a rest to eat on the other side for a while.. How much they do at once depends on the extent of your plaque.
Generally they give you novacaine or some sort of numbing agent and they take off the plaque which has formed below the gum line along the tooth surfaces, that is the scaling part. It is sometimes called a deep cleaning as they go much deeper than a regular cleaning. The plaque hardens where it has formed under the gums so it needs to be scraped off. The root planing is done to reshape the surface of the roots. In my case, bacteria grew and flourished because i had so much plaque for so long and it finally started eating away at the bone. So the bone is not smooth in places. For the gums to adhere back to the bone it is beneficial to be smooth. The planing part comes where they resculpt the roots so that the gum will have a better surface to adhere to.
I did not find it painful at all with the novacaine. In my case it took an hour and a half or so for each quad but i have heard of people having a much shorter session.My husbands today took 45 minutes for one quad. I was able to go about my business after it was over and the novacaine wore off.

norrell

Root planing (R/P) is usually done by a hygienist. If you need all your teeth r/p it generally is done in two appts. Your mouth is divided into 4 quadants: upper right, lower right, upper left and lower left. Normally the hygienist will r/p one side of your mouth like the upper right and lower right at the first appt. The next appt she will work on the left side of your mouth. It's done with local anesthesia. Depending on the office, some will allow 45 min per quad or an hour per quad. So if you are getting 2 quads done it will be 1.5 to 2 hrs.
Lateeth has given good and accurate info above.

joyceyip

Katefan00

I had something done called a perioscale -- it was not root planing, though. My dentist used some sort of local numbing agent but no novocaine, and she did my whole mouth in about a half hour. Of course perioscaling is less intensive than root planing. Anyway, it hurt and bled quite a bit but it wasn't unbearable. Actually the worst part was feeling the warm drips of blood on my tongue, because I knew since it was so warm it was blood and not just saliva.

Try not to be nervous -- if they're doing root planing they should give you some sort of painkiller shot. If it's just the scaling, you can tough it out without too many problems. And if you can't, then you should be able to request novocaine.

Sustasha

I had my entire mouth scaled? years ago. I got about six injections first by the dentist then I went into the hygienist's room and seems like it took about 45 minutes. Never felt a thing; not even that night or the next day. The dentist had told me , "you won't like me tomorrow" but he was wrong.

norrell

Please be aware that some dentist are fanatics about treatment planing patients for the root planing when not necessary. They make more money with r/p compare to regular cleanings. A patient who truely needs root planing will take approx. 1 to 2 hours to r/p one side of their mouth with local anesthesia. Those that take shorter time like 30 or 45 minutes truely do not need this procedure and they are being taken advantage of. Corporate dental companies are notorious at ripping patients off this way as well as some private practice offices. If you are told that you have deep pockets as well as bone loss and a lot of tarter above and below the gumline than yes you need r/p. R/p is trying to resolve your gum disease. Please be educated about your dental procedures. Ask for literatures on the r/p, most offices have them for patient education. I dont want to open up a can of worms but I can't stand patients being taken advantage of.

Amazed

Thank you all for your replies, it was very helpful.

Yup. . .I better stay off my soapbox on that topic!!!

lateeth

Thank you tooth fairy for that advice. I was wondering why my root planing and scaling took 2 hours for one quad while other writers had their whole mouth done in a half hour or so!

Sustasha

You are right; I bet I didn't need it. This dentist was put on Community Service for exchanging drugs for sex with a patient!! I think he was arrested.
He was a "good" dentist, though, and he's still in practice although he was having such a hard time paying for this elaborate building that he had to re-locate to more modest digs. A lot of people dropped him, including me. He was fun to go to: very funny, charming and handsome. Then he had a mid-life crisis and dumped his wife. You have to be pretty darn charming to continue to be successful after this mess.

brita

I had the root planing scaling done and would NEVER RECOMMEND it. It is extremely invasive and I have had problems ever since. Discolored dark gums and very sensitive teeth. It is a nightmare. I also got several shots and one of them hit either a gland or vein and I have a small lump there now with a blue veiny dot in the middle of it. The oral surgeon says if it gets bigger it will have to be cut out. If you have gum disease get regular cleanings only and try a water pik everyday and a sonicare toothbrush instead. I wish I had......

Sustasha

Brita, everyone I'm sure appreciates your comments. I had gum scaling done; it was nothing. But ROOT PLANING I suspected would be another story. While the dentist was saying he wanted to do it he would barely look me in the eye. I had a swollen, red area over an upper tooth ; the same tooth I had root canaled 2 years ago. It kind of hurt to chew on that tooth. The standard procedure is to root plane that sucker but I figured, "if I'm so big on alternative medicine , surely I can take care of this. It sounds risky. And expensive and often needing many sessions!
So I bought a hydrofloss and started using that followed by a hot salt water rinse. I did this daily for a few weeks. Then I bought some Clenzology which is simply a few essential oils suspended in a carrier oil, almond oil and put a few drops of that on my toothbrush; it's HOT.
I continued for another week using the flosser, saltwater and clenzology and low and behold: the redness was GONE and the bump was MUCH smaller. Plus , I could now chew on that tooth with no discomfort. Now after 3 mos I've slacked off the treatments and SOMETIMES use the hydrofloss but I OFTEN dip a Q Tip either in the clenzology OR oil of oregano and rub that gum. It is almost cleared up now. I don't know if it will ever be totally flat again but I'm sure not going to ask that dentist what I should do! I'd be going backwards and I'm going forward instead with my in home treatments.
I am one happy camper with sev hundred dollars more than I would have had and NO toothaches. But it took me about 2 months.

Warah

Scaling and root planing is a periodontal procedure done by a dentist or hygienist. First it is done on patients that have active periodontal disease and/or have tartar (hardened plaque) and root toxins underneath the gum.

Periodontal infections often consist of bone loss (measured by deep periodontal pocketing and x-rays), bleeding, suppuration (pus), subgingival irriatants and red/swollen gums and tissue. The infection will not get better unless what is causing it is removed.

Periodontal infections can be generalized (full mouth) or localized (one tooth). THEREFORE....it can be done in half an hour or so. The time it takes depends on how many teeth affected, how deep the pockets are and how tenacious the subgingival tartar is.

Often the gums are given a local anesthetic. Some people can tolerate topical anesthetic but it does not get very far under the gums and it does not numb the tooth which can be sensitive.

The most common side effect is sore gums for a couple days and post op thermal sensitivity which go away over a couple weeks.

The desired end result is: resolution of inflammation, no bleeding, shrinkage of periodontal pocket. Once the bone is lost it cannot be replaced. Therefore its really important to practice meticulous oral hygiene or re-infection will occur.

Sustasha

"Periodontal infections often consist of bone loss (measured by deep periodontal pocketing and x-rays), bleeding, suppuration (pus), subgingival irriatants and red/swollen gums and tissue. The infection will not get better unless what is causing it is removed."

Oh, yes it will. Essential oils such as oil of oregano are anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal. Look it up. Not only that: there are "gray areas" in bone loss. A dentist found such bone loss of One of my teeth 25 years ago. The tooth is still there and functioning just fine. A person can live a long, full life with just One Kidney and a tooth can do the same with "some" bone loss. I am sixty one years of age and have never lost a tooth. I must be doing Something right. And, no; my parents lost a lot of teeth.

daydreamer77

I think what WaRDH was referring to was infection caused by tartar under the gumline and the toxins that accompany it. You can suppress or mask the infection temporarily I suppose, but if that tartar remains, you will always have a source of infection there. In order to truly rid yourself of the infection, you need to remove the tartar, which can only be done through scaling.