Dental cleaning, commonly known as tooth washing, and the technical term supragingival scaling refers to the use of scaling instruments to remove dental plaque, dental plaque and stains on the gums, polish the tooth surface, and delay the re-deposition of dental plaque and calculus. Plaque and calculus are the most important local stimulating factors of periodontal disease, and scaling is the most effective method to remove supragingival plaque and calculus.
Plaque is the chief culprit of periodontal disease, which will re-form on the tooth surface after being removed. Plaque removal is not in place, and mineral salts in saliva gradually deposit, which will form tartar over time. The existence of tartar makes the plaque closely contact with the tissue surface, which causes the inflammatory reaction of periodontal tissue. In addition, the porous structure of dental calculus is easy to absorb a large number of bacterial toxins, and dental calculus will also hinder brushing. If it is not removed for a long time, it may cause gingivitis, periodontitis, gingival bleeding, bad breath, and finally lead to tooth loosening or even falling off. After tartar is formed, it cannot be removed by brushing. According to the different positions of dental calculus deposition, it can be divided into supragingival dental calculus and subgingival dental calculus based on the gingival margin. As the name implies, tooth washing is mainly responsible for removing supragingival calculus, but in practice, shallow subgingival calculus connected with supragingival calculus should also be removed.