What is root planing /curettage?
Root planing is a way of helping to halt gum disease. It involves ‘deep’ scaling, to clean parts of teeth below the gumline, which cannot be reached with a toothbrush. Root planing cleans out the pockets, and removes plaque and tartar from the tooth roots. What does the dentist or dental hygienist do? Dentists and hygienists use two types of instrument for root planing: Hand scalers come in different sizes and shapes to reach different parts of the teeth. This is why you will see the dentist or hygienist changing instruments quite often. Electric scalers use a tip that vibrates very fast in a stream of water. The water is removed from your mouth using a small suction device. A hand scaler is also used along with an electric scaler, to check whether the roots are completely clean. After a tooth has been root planed, the pocket should shrink, making the gum sit closer to the tooth. You then need to be especially careful about cleaning the teeth above the gumline. Root planing will probab
