"Deep Cleaning Doesn't Sound Natural To Me!"

"What is this deep cleaning business about? It seems so unnatural to me!" That is what I hear all the time. When a dentist recommends deep cleaning to a patient, it means that the person might have gum disease. The dentist can tell you how often you should get the treatment.

I still have yet to meet a person who doesn't want to save their teeth as long as they can. Yet, when I tell my patient that a tooth is hopeless and needs to be pulled out, the patient often asks me, "Is there any way I can save it instead of pulling?" Well… there is no way to save that tooth, but you can save the rest of your teeth by deep cleaning. By the way, “deep cleaning” is not really the correct term. It should be called non-surgical active periodontal therapy.

I once had a patient knocking on my door, wanting a cleaning appointment as soon as possible. As I sat down with her and talked, she said, "I had a death sentence in my teeth." I replied, "Surely you're joking, aren't you? There is no death sentence in dentistry!" She said, “Yes—there is. I went to the best dental clinic (Seoul National University Hospital Dental Clinic), and the dentist told me the death sentence for my teeth. They said, why bother with treatment? Just enjoy them for a while, then pull all of your teeth and get a denture.”

She decided that was not acceptable. That moment was the turning point in her life. She carries a brush and floss everywhere. She never misses a four-month checkup and cleaning. That is why, when she traveled from San Francisco to take care of her daughter, she literally knocked on my door so she wouldn’t miss her cleaning appointment.

Obviously, when I saw her teeth, she had worse teeth than the average person. But her “death sentence” was 10 years ago! That is the power of maintenance in dentistry. You cannot change your genes, but you can absolutely change your direction—starting immediately—with your actions.

A lot of patients tell me deep cleaning doesn’t sound natural to them. I tell them it isn’t! I am convinced that a lot of things in life are not natural. After a few years of trying, I am certain violin playing is not natural. Only two generations ago, no one had deep cleaning, and losing teeth in midlife was simply a way of life. Now it is not acceptable—and it shouldn’t be.

But you do have to do some unnatural things in order to keep your teeth into your 70s and 80s.