Was this deep cleaning/scaling and root planing?

[cleo29]

Hi everyone

I have had a dental phobia for a long time. I went to the dentist eventually due to breaking a tooth eating. He said that I had periodental disease (not a complete surprise) with 10% bone loss. Growing up I wasn't really told the importance of cleaning my teeth twice a day and I would say I gave them a cursory brush each morning. In the last 10 years I have brushed twice a day but I am fairly sure I haven't been doing it correctly (that has changed now). So it wasn't a complete surprise to hear.

Anyway, having found a private dentist who specialises in dental phobias and who made me feel comfortable he said I would need a scaling and root planing (Deep clean) and that it would require quite a few injections.

I went for my appointment and had 8 injections to numb my mouth, he did the work it took about 30 minutes including the tooth extraction.

I went back after a month for a check-up and the extraction has healed but when he probed my teeth there was still some bleeding from the four back teeth (furthest tooth in each corner of my mouth). He has started me on doxycycline. He also said I needed to go and get checked for diabetes because the back teeth had not responded as he expected.

I have tried to ensure my home care routine is better and am spending extra time on the back teeth.

However I have been reading up about deep cleaning and everything I read says it takes more than one appointment and is normally done by quadrants and takes quite a while which has made me wonder about whether what I had was deep cleaning? Also, should all bleeding have stopped within that 1 month period?

Thanks in advance for any guidance anyone can give.

Cleo

 

[rob wain]

On face value it doesn't sound as if you have severe gum disease. 10% bone loss is about 1 mm.
Rootplaning can be done in single or multiple visits however it does take quite a long time and 30 minutes including an extraction is quick.
Similarly, I can't quite understand why diabetes would be suspected or doxycycline required if you only had 10% bone loss.
There may be many other factors present that your dentist hasn't explained which could make everything very sensible. I suggest you seek clarification and if you're not happy then get a second opinion

 

[cleo29]

On face value it doesn't sound as if you have severe gum disease. 10% bone loss is about 1 mm.
Rootplaning can be done in single or multiple visits however it does take quite a long time and 30 minutes including an extraction is quick.
Similarly, I can't quite understand why diabetes would be suspected or doxycycline required if you only had 10% bone loss.
There may be many other factors present that your dentist hasn't explained which could make everything very sensible. I suggest you seek clarification and if you're not happy then get a second opinion

Many thanks for taking the time to reply. It took me a long time to finally go to the dentist and i just want to make sure I fully understand everything.

I did ask him twice to confirm his diagnosis and he definitely said 10% bone loss. I know now from reading this forum I should have probably asked for pocket depth as well.

He said the doxycycline was required because when he used the probe at my 1 month post cleaning check there was some bleeding from each corner, the rest of my mouth he did say seemed to have responded well. It was that he said that also prompted the suggestion I might have diabetes - because he said if you have uncontrolled diabetes that healing might be delayed. I presume it was also linked to the fact I am overweight (he very carefully said 'slightly elevated BMI' ha ha). He told me to go to the Doctor.

The problem I have is I have had an initial test through my work health programme that shows normal blood sugars, but in the last 4.5 months I have lost 5 stone on a low carb/low cal diet and massive amounts of exercise. So the nurse testing said I could either have well controlled diabetes or not have it at all. But I certainly don't seem to have 'uncontrolled' diabetes.

Are there specific questions I should ask to find out if there is anything else he might not have mentioned?

Cleo

 

[rob wain]

Hi Cleo,
The bone loss of 10% may be a generalisation for the whole mouth with some areas being worse.
The other important factor would be the pocket depths around the areas that are still bleeding. As a rule of thumb depths of 1-3mm are not a worry. 4-5 is moderate disease, >5 advanced disease.