Teeth cleaning question-deep or regular cleaning?

I went to the dentist yesterday and they told me I needed a deep cleaning on 4 of my back lower teeth. They quoted a $960 price and I told them I couldn%26#039;t afford that. I asked to just get a regular cleaning for right now and they said they can%26#039;t do it because it would be bad for my teeth that need the deep cleaning!! I can%26#039;t believe it......is it true!?!

Teeth cleaning question-deep or regular cleaning?
This is a classic case of needing a second opinion. Go to a different dentist and let him/her go about their regular examination. At the end, after he/she gives a diagnosis, you can bring up the deep-cleaning issue.
Reply:I can%26#039;t believe that they didn%26#039;t just clean them until you could come back for the deep cleaning, whatever that is suppose to mean. I would look for another dentist, when you go in every six months, that%26#039;s what they normally do, not try to get you to do something more expensive or not at all.
Reply:Yes and no. It wouldn%26#039;t be bad for your teeth, but it wouldn%26#039;t do you any good. You would be wasting your time and money just doing a regular cleaning. A regular cleaning only cleans the tops of the teeth and slightly below the gumline. A deep cleaning goes alot deeper than a regular cleaning. A dentist checks for pocketing around the teeth and for tartar and plaque around the teeth. If there are pockets beyond 3mm, and there is tartar in those deeper pockets a regular cleaning is basically just going to leave it there. What is the point of doing a cleaning that leaves all that crap below your gumline? A regular cleaning only goes about 1-2 mm below the gumline. So anything below that, will just be left there. Meaning your gums will continue to harbor bacteria and tartar and will continue to worsen. The bacteria will continue to grow and your gum condition will just get worse and worse. Periodontal disease will cause your gums to pull away from the teeth, stay red and infected and can cause you to loose bone and for your teeth to become loose. A deep cleaning isn%26#039;t really a cleaning, it is a treatment. Gum disease, periodontal disease, is not curable. You can treat it but if you don%26#039;t continue to take care of your teeth and gums from now on, it will return to the same condition or worsen.





Here is a link to the perio.org website. It explains what periodontal disease is and about a deep cleaning.





http://www.perio.org/consumer/procedures...
Reply:Think of it like this...if you have a house in which the foundation is falling apart, would you spend the time/money to put new shutters on it to make the exterior look pretty? No, you%26#039;d want to address the main problems before you decide to decorate it, b/c realistically by not taking care of the most critical aspect, you could be wasting your time %26amp; money on the latter. Basically what your DDS has diagnosed is that several areas in your mouth have bacteria/infection/calculus below the gums. You alone, even with great homecare are unable to access these areas. With special instruments, and possibly the placement of antibiotics, your hygientist can help clean out, and hopefully get those areas of your gums healthy enough for you to maintain %26amp; clean them through your homecare. I understand that due to finances you%26#039;d rather opt for the more traditional cleaning, the problem though, is that, that type of cleaning suits someone who doesn%26#039;t have the areas of which require special attention as you do in your molar area. So you%26#039;d be ignoring and allowing the bacteria/infection to manifest further into your mouth. One important thing to remember- you can have the most beautiful, white, healthy teeth in the world, but w/o healthy, clean gums to hold %26amp; support them they won%26#039;t last long. My suggestion is to try %26amp; see if you cant finance the cleaning, or break the pymts up. Just don%26#039;t ignore addressing the issues going on there, you may regret it later on. Good luck!



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