Scaling & Root Planing, San Diego

The first non-surgical step is to remove plaque and tartar from below the gum line and from deep pockets. This manual procedure may take one to two visits to complete and is performed with local anesthetic for your comfort.

In many cases, patients respond quite well to this "deep cleaning" and may not require more aggressive treatment. Even in cases where there is severe disease, non-surgical periodontal therapy is used to stabilize the disease and to increase the health of gums prior to surgical intervention. This has been shown to improve tissue health and potentially decrease the amount of surgery needed as well as improve your tissue's response to surgery.

Dr. Hunt may incorporate other treatment at the same time to increase the effectiveness of treatment. He may prescribe a round of oral antibiotics to help boost your immune system to combat the bacterial infection in your gum tissue. He may introduce local chemotherapeutic agents directly into pockets where bacteria are harbored or irrigate pockets with antimicrobials. Dr. Hunt feels strongly that each adjunctive treatment option is to be used only in situations where it has been proven effective for your specific disease process.