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Hi. I am a little confused about what I had done.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike2
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Mike2

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Feb 6, 2007
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Hi everyone,

This is mike. I was the person who went for a deep cleaning and was scared stiff to go. I wrote about my experience in the other area on this board (Share your experiences) but I had a question that I was really concerned about and would like some answers or advise on.

When I had my deep cleaning I did have injections so I know they were going to go under my gums. However, I saw a video on the net that showed a curved instrument going under the gums and scraping the tooth.

My dentist used a high powered water thing and it felt like she was picking my teeth with an instrument but my wife says it was water and no pick was used. She did go deep under my gums with it and the plaque was just being blasted from above and below my gum lines. Some white sandy stuff was also used later on.

Did I have my teeth scaled or a root planning done? I read this on the net..........

Root planing and curettage

What is it?

Root planing is used to clean the parts of teeth, which are below the gum-line and cannot be reached with a toothbrush. This can result in gum disease and gum 'pockets' can start to develop around the teeth. This means that the bone supporting the teeth can become lost.

Root planning is used to clean out the gum 'pockets' and remove plaque and tartar from the tooth roots.

What does this treatment involve?

This treatment is often performed under a local anaesthetic and may require you to make more than one visit, depending on whether your mouth is treated in sections.

There are two different tools that are used for root planning. The hand scaler comes in various sizes and shapes to enable your dentist to reach all parts of the tooth and to ensure that the tooth and its root are completely clean. The electric scaler is then used, which vibrates with water. The water circulates around the mouth to thoroughly clean out the mouth, which is then removed using suction


After this treatment you will need to be careful when cleaning the teeth above the gum-line, as the root planning should cause the gum pocket to shrink, resulting with the gum sitting closer to the tooth. This treatment is generally repeated on a regular basis

My questions is, was this treatment done with a vibrating electric scaler being that my wife said it was a high powered water type pick? Did I have tooth scaling and root planning done or was this a different method of deep cleaning teeth? Thanks!
 
Re: Hi. I am a little confused about what I had do

It sounds like you had a sonic or ultrasonic scaler used on you, followed by a prophyjet, sort of a mini-sandblaster to remove staining.
Ultra/Sonic scalers need to be cooled by a water spray as they get very hot during use, this was the water blasty thing.
 
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