Hi Ana,

Not having your teeth cleaned for several years means there will be a buildup of hard deposits called calculus on your teeth.... both above and below the gumline. Calculus is a build up of plaque that over time becomes very hard and tenacious. Bacteria thrive in plaque and calculus which causes chronic inflammation. Calculus below the gum line will literally erodes the bone, eventually leading to infection and loose teeth. There are also many systemic risks associated with this type of bacteria in the mouth.... diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease are just 3 of the major ones.

With that said, there is no such thing as a "regular cleaning" for someone with this condition because the teeth cannot be cleaned with the calculus still on them. It's not that easy to just remove some of it as it is literally layers upon layers that have hardened onto the tooth and root. Depending on how long it's been forming, the calculus can actually alter the shape of the tooth where it has been growing on. If someone were to try and remove pieces of it, it would be painful, costly and not at all beneficial.

A debridement is often the first step to a deep cleaning. It simply looses some of the tenacious calculus and removes some that is not below the gumline. But this procedure needs to be followed up with additional scalings to be beneficial. You can do one quadrant of debridement at a time.... that is the least invasive way to do it and the discomfort afterwards will not be that bad. This may be the longest way to get it all done but it may be the easiest for you. You can book the appointments at 2 week intervals times 4 appointments. Then at your last debridement appointment they can evaluate the remaining build up on your teeth and either do 4 more appointments of quadrant scaling or 2 appointments of scaling doing 2 quadrants at each appointment. It depends on how much buildup there is remaining.

With regard to the extraction sight caving in after you flushed out some food debris.... the food irritated the gum tissue causing it to inflame which made it look bigger or more full than it really was. When the irritant (food) was gone, the gum inflammation decreased to where the healthy tissue really is. It is normal to have some gum recession on the tooth next to the extracted one. If this area is not cleaned every day, it will recess further from the irritation of the plaque.

There is no benefit to removing some of the calculus in your mouth and not all of it because the bacteria literally comes back fourfold onto the calculus that has not been removed.

You shouldn't be sorry that you had that wisdom tooth removed if it had decay in it. You could have ended up with a major infection from that cavity and now that is one less thing you have to be concerned about.

Do you think you could try the quadrant debridement and scalings?

Bryanna