Can Teeth Fall Out After Deep Teeth Cleaning?
Deep teeth cleaning can play a major part in stopping gum disease in its tracks, reducing bleeding and inflammation and helping prevent the loss of the teeth. When intercepted early, the effects of gum disease can be reversed and the gums successfully restored to health with a dental deep cleaning treatment. When gum disease is allowed to progress untreated, however, more complex, invasive treatments like surgeries and grafts are required to repair and restore damaged or destroyed tissues. Early treatment of gum disease increases the likelihood of a complete, successful recovery, and consistent, effective oral hygiene can help prevent gum disease from recurring. When gum disease does develop, a deep teeth cleaning treatment can keep it from progressing and restore the health of the oral cavity. This routine, consistently successful procedure has some risks, but they are minimal when compared to the long-term effects of unmanaged gum disease.
Dentists recommend dental deep cleaning treatments for patients with gum disease when there is an accumulation of tartar in the pockets between the gums and the teeth. As tartar accumulates in these crevices, the pockets that cradle it grow deeper as the gums become more and more inflamed and pull farther away from the teeth. Removing hardened tartar and softer plaque from these pockets and thoroughly cleaning the area helps these gingival pockets reduce in depth and allows the gums to reattach to the teeth without interference. The scaling and root planing procedures rely on a selection of dental tools; using these tools, the dentist will scrape accumulated tartar and plaque from the surfaces of the teeth below the gum line, smoothing the root surfaces once they are clean to prevent bacteria from reattaching to once-craggy areas. Your dentist will apply a topical anesthetic or use injected numbing agents to eliminate the possibility of pain during the scaling and root planing procedures, and it’s normal to feel tooth sensitivity or discomfort for a few days after the procedure. Some patients report that their teeth feel loose after a dental deep clean, and some may worry that this is a sign that the teeth are actually loose or are going to fall out. This sensation actually arises when the tartar that accumulated below the gum line is removed, which creates the feeling of a gap between the gum tissue and the teeth where calcified tartar used to reside. As the gums heal, they reattach to the teeth and this gap is reduced or, ideally, eliminated, and the teeth begin to feel secure and stable once again.
Before your deep teeth cleaning, your dentist will examine your oral cavity and dentition with x-rays; if the teeth are especially precarious or already loose, they will assess whether a dental deep clean might lead to tooth loss. In more advanced cases of gum disease, if the stability of the teeth is sufficiently jeopardized, the dental specialist may determine that it’s preferable to remove compromised teeth and may recommend more invasive treatments, like bone grafts or dental implants. With these precautionary measures, it’s unlikely that any teeth would fall out unpredictably after a deep teeth cleaning, and your dentist will make sure to review your specific risks before engaging in any type of periodontal treatment.