For root scaling and planing, should that be done by a dentist or periodontist?
Answer Jeff, A general dentist, a periodontist, and a dental hygienist are all trained and can perform root planing on a patient. A periodontist is obviously the most experienced at doing this but this does not mean that a general dentist or a dental hygienist is not as “good” at performing this procedure. Questions to ask are “how many of these do you perform each day, each week”, “is periodontal work something you particularly enjoy doing”, and “what is your success rate on this procedure”. I hope all of this gives you some useful information. As far as timing goes, I usually do one quadrant at a time and will do 1 or 2 each week. So you can do it over a period of a month and not have any problems.