Deep Cleaning vs Regular Cleaning (Dental Hygienist Explains)

What's the difference between a regular cleaning at the dentist and a deep cleaning at the dentist? Hi everyone my name is Whitney and I'm a dental hygienist here to talk about the different dental cleanings. Let's start with the regular normal cleanings. A regular normal teeth cleaning is also known as oral prophylaxis. Prophylaxis is the action taken to prevent disease and oral is your mouth your oral cavity which consists of your teeth gums and soft tissue. So this regular cleaning also known as a prophylaxis or a prophy is the action of preventing disease in your mouth by removing plaque and tartar bacteria from the surfaces of your teeth and it happens every six months. These prophys or regular six month cleanings are recommended for people with a healthy mouth, healthy gums. How do you know if your gums are healthy and you're eligible for a regular cleaning? Your dentist and your dental hygienist will tell you after they assess your gums and your bone. The assessment generally consists of periodontal charting, a clinical exam, and dental x-rays. Periodontal charting and I have a whole video on this if you'd like to dive into the details but quick recap. Periodontal charting is when they take measurements of your gums and record those measurement numbers into the chart to check the health of your gums. These measurements also known as probing depths are what we use to find out if your gum health is within normal limits. So there's a natural space between your gums and your teeth and that space should be between one and three millimeters to be considered healthy or within normal limits and the instrument we use to check is a periodontal probe. It's similar to a ruler it has little markings on it denoting each millimeter so we can accurately record your measurements. So if your gums all are ones, twos, and threes you are most likely good to go for a regular routine cleaning. So that's a prophy. A normal regular cleaning to continue preventing disease. Now what if you have one or a few areas where they find a four millimeter pocket? Not the end of the world. Maybe you're overdue for a cleaning and there's a little more tartar buildup in certain areas of your mouth or the gums are a bit inflamed in a few scattered areas for one reason or another. Once you get a professional cleaning and keep up with your home care of brushing and flossing daily, oftentimes a four millimeter pocket can easily go back down to a healthy three. So if there's only a few fours you'll usually still get a regular cleaning but it depends and this is where the x-rays come in. X-rays are of course important in finding out if you have cavities between your teeth. So even if you have all ones, twos, and threes, no fours, super healthy gums, you're in the regular cleaning territory, you still need routine x-rays to confirm there is no tooth decay, cavities hiding between your teeth. But now say you have some four millimeter pockets. X-rays are extra important now because we're not only checking for tooth decay but we also have to check to confirm there is no tartar, which is mineralized tartan plaque that does not come off with a toothbrush or floss at home. We need to make sure there is none of that tartar below your gum line because if there is, you might not be benefiting from a regular cleaning anymore. A regular cleaning effectively cleans between one and three millimeters in your gingival sulcus. That area, that space between your gums and your teeth. But if you have a four millimeter pocket or a bunch of four millimeter pockets with tartar stuck in those pockets, you might be now getting yourself into a different type of cleaning. But before we get into talking about deep cleanings, I know this video is all about the differences between a regular cleaning and a deep cleaning, but it's important to mention that there is a cleaning in between the regular and the deep. This middle type of cleaning is often done when you don't have bone loss, but you do have generalized gum inflammation. Usually when you have a whole bunch of fours in your mouth, maybe sometimes fives. If this is you, your dentist and your dental hygienist will explain this type of cleaning to you. Basically, it's just not quite a regular cleaning because the gums are not healthy enough for that, and it's not quite a deep cleaning because the gums are too healthy for that, and or you have no bone loss. So this middle type of cleaning, often called scaling in the presence of gingival inflammation, and that's a mouthful, you don't have to remember that, but yes, this middle type of cleaning is a more involved dental cleaning that cleans below your gum lines, but not too far because you don't have bone loss. You just have red swollen puffy gums. And after you're done with this middle type of cleaning, with good home care, those gums can shrink back up and become firmer, and tighter, and healthier, and you can often get back into the habit of regular six-month recare profis again. Sometimes, but not always. And I'll link my video all about recare frequencies. Sometimes it is recommended to visit the dentist for a cleaning every three months or every four months, depending on your individual situation. So I'll link that video of mine in the description box. But back to this video, now let's get into deep cleanings. A deep cleaning, also known as SRP, or scaling and root planing, it's a type of cleaning that is not a better cleaning than a regular cleaning. I want to say that flat out right away because I've had lots of patients request a deep cleaning because they say it sounds better, but that's not how it works. If your gums are healthy, you do not have any perio-pocketing or bone loss. There's nothing deep to clean. A deep cleaning doesn't mean we do a better cleaning job. It just means there's more tooth surface area exposed that needs to be cleaned. So after you get the perio-charting done, if they find lots of five millimeter pockets and up, so fives, sixes, sevens, what have you, now this space between the gums and the tooth is a very large space that bacteria, plaque, and tartar can get stuck underneath. And you can often see this tartar on the x-rays, not always again, but often you can see it if it's a large enough piece of tartar. So if you have the bone loss, the tartar, the perio-pocketing, you will most likely need to get a deep cleaning. And deep cleanings are generally done in two appointments. The first appointment, they will numb up one side of your entire mouth and then clean that one side. And then you'll come back another day to numb up the other side of your mouth and clean that side. Do you have to get numb? No, but it's oftentimes recommended and there's a bunch of different procedure details you can discuss with your dental provider to find the best treatment options that will best benefit you. I will link my what to expect at a deep cleaning appointment video if you're interested in how to prepare for the appointment and exactly what's going on during the cleaning process, as well as my anesthesia video, which goes over all of the different types of numbing options and anesthetic and sedative options if you are someone who is a little anxious about going to the dentist. But again, for the purpose of this video, just remember that a regular cleaning is for healthy gums to prevent and maintain those healthy gums and a deep cleaning is for unhealthy gums. And the goal of a deep cleaning is to bring those unhealthy gums back to health by removing bacteria from below the gum line. There are also scenarios where maybe you only need a localized deep cleaning. For example, maybe all of your front teeth are fine and healthy. The gums are good. But maybe your back teeth, your molars, all have high pocketing numbers. This is more common than not. So just be aware that if your dental provider proposes a deep cleaning only on certain areas of your mouth, it is a thing. I actually have another video that really goes into depth about the three different types of cleanings and how to distinguish between them. If you'd like to learn more, I'll link all of my deep cleaning informational videos in the description box. I hope this video helped you. Please like and subscribe and turn on your notifications if it did. If you'd like more teeth talk, you can visit my website teethtalkgirl.com or hang out with me on Instagram at teethtalkgirl. Peace, love, and teeth!