Deep Cleaning in West Bloomfield, MI

A regular cleaning works above the gum line. A deep cleaning, or scaling and root planing, treats the root surfaces below it where gum disease is active.

The area is numbed first, so the procedure itself is comfortable. Gums can be tender for a day or two afterward.

Usually two, treating one side at each visit, so you are never numb across your whole mouth at once.

We recheck your gum measurements after healing and move you onto periodontal maintenance, which is a cleaning schedule designed to hold the result.

Gingivitis, the early stage, is reversible. Once the inflammation has been treated and home care improves, the tissue tightens back up and the bleeding stops. Periodontitis is different, because bone has already been lost around the tooth and bone does not grow back on its own. That stage is stopped and managed rather than cured, which is what a deep cleaning and the maintenance schedule after it are for. Your dentist measures the pockets first, so you are told which of the two you have rather than left guessing.

Tenderness usually settles within a day or two, and the tissue reattaches over the following weeks. We remeasure your pockets once that healing has happened, because the numbers at the recheck are what tell us whether the treatment worked. Bleeding that has stopped and pockets that have shrunk are the result we are looking for. Where a few areas have not responded, we treat those specifically rather than repeating the whole thing.

Some sensitivity to cold in the days afterward is common and settles as the gums heal. Root surfaces that were covered by swollen tissue are briefly more exposed once that swelling comes down. A sensitivity toothpaste used twice a day handles it for most patients, and we can apply fluoride at the visit if your teeth are already sensitive. Tell us before we start rather than after, because it changes what we use on the day.

The pockets do not stay the same size. Hardened deposits below the gum line keep the inflammation running, the bone supporting the tooth keeps shrinking, and teeth that were only bleeding start to loosen. Bone that has gone does not come back, so the treatment waiting a year needs is usually larger and less predictable than the treatment waiting now. If cost is the reason it has been put off, tell us, because the work can be split across visits and CareCredit and Cherry both apply to it.

Not necessarily. We chart the pocket depth around every tooth first, and only the areas measuring deeper than a regular cleaning can reach are treated this way. Some patients need one quadrant. Some need all four. Treating healthy areas as though they were diseased is not harmless, so the measurements decide the scope rather than a standard package, and we show you your own chart so you can see why.

Most major PPO plans cover scaling and root planing in part where gum disease has been diagnosed. We verify your benefits before the appointments are scheduled. The quickest way to get a real answer for your own case is a short conversation. Call us at (248) 863-9109 or book online.