Periodontal
When a routine cleaning stops being enough
Scaling and root planing treats gum disease below the gumline, where a toothbrush and a standard cleaning can't reach. Copperstone Dental in Meridian offers a laser handoff for the cases that need more.
Chapter 01
When a cleaning is no longer enough
Most people find out they need a deep cleaning at a checkup that started out routine. Dr. Matthew Tuft or Dr. Hunter Brittain measures the pockets between the gum and each tooth during the periodontal screening, and once those pockets get deep enough, a standard cleaning stops being able to reach what's actually causing the problem. That's gum disease, and it doesn't announce itself the way a cavity does.
It builds quietly. Plaque hardens into tartar below the gumline, the gum pulls away as it responds to the irritation, and the pocket gets a little deeper each time it goes untreated. By the time it's visible as bleeding or a receding gum line, the buildup has usually been there for a while.
Dental instruments prepared for a scaling and root planing appointment at Copperstone Dental
Scaling and root planing, below the gumline
Scaling and root planing, often shortened to SRP, is two steps rather than one. Scaling removes the plaque and tartar built up on the tooth and root surface, including the part hidden under the gum. Root planing follows by smoothing the root itself, so the surface the gum has to reattach to is clean and even instead of rough and colonized.
This is the part a toothbrush was never built to do. Bristles clean the crown of the tooth above the gumline; they don't reach the root surface a few millimeters down where the actual disease is sitting. SRP is done with the numbed area at Copperstone, one quadrant or a full arch at a time depending on how much needs treating.
Chapter 03
What happens after
Gum tissue that's had a real chance to reattach to a clean root surface tends to tighten back up over the following weeks, and the bleeding that brought the problem to light usually settles down with it. Copperstone puts patients on a periodontal maintenance schedule after SRP, shorter than the standard six-month interval, because gum disease that's been treated once still needs watching.
For cases that don't fully resolve with scaling and root planing alone, or come back more aggressively, Copperstone also offers LANAP and laser pocket disinfection on /services/laser-dentistry. Both are options for advanced periodontal disease, not a replacement for SRP as the first step. Call the office at any point in that process to ask where a specific case stands.
Copperstone Dental: Most major dental insurance billed directly. In-office discount plan for patients without insurance. Call (208) 218-0329.