Deep Cleaning or Scaling and Root Planing (SRP)
Dr. Nawar Alnoman is a dentist practicing in Palatine, IL. Dr. Alnoman specializes in preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases and conditions associated with the mouth and overall dental health. Dentists are trained to carry out such treatment as professional cleaning, restorative, prosthodontic, and endodontic procedures,... more
Deep cleaning or SRP is a procedure needed for patients who have a periodontal disease called periodontitis. Periodontitis is a gum and bone disease that causes bone loss and gum recession. The main factor for periodontitis is the plaque accumulations on the teeth above and below the gum line. The plaque is bacterial films that reside in the mouth and attach to teeth and continue to grow and accumulate if it's not physically removed.
The plaque accumulations cause the gum and the bone that support the teeth to be inflamed and remodeled or receded. In this case, we diagnose the patient with periodontitis after looking at the patient's radiographs and after clinical examination and the measurement of the bone loss and gum recession. There are classifications to periodontitis depending on the severity of the disease. Once we diagnose the patient and classify the periodontitis, we perform a deep cleaning and put the patient on periodic evaluation and periodontal maintenance.
The deep cleaning procedure or SRP involves anesthesia such as lidocaine to make sure the patient is comfortable throughout the appointment. Also, we use multiple tools to completely remove all the plaque from the teeth, gum, and bone. Finally, we keep the patient on evaluation and maintenance to assure that there will be no new plaque accumulations and to prevent the process of bone loss and gum recession.
