Many patients, after having dental scaling, mistakenly believe, “The doctor scraped my teeth, creating gaps between them, and my teeth started to loosen.” The reality of periodontal treatment is this: Tartar forms when bacterial plaque, left uncleaned for years, solidifies with minerals in saliva. It seeps below the gum line, eroding the healthy jawbone beneath. The tartar becomes so dense that it surrounds the teeth, which are essentially unsupported, like a concrete block, artificially masking their loosening. When cleaning removes these infected, hard masses, the spaces eroded by the tartar (between the teeth) are exposed, and because the bone support holding the teeth is reduced, a temporary loosening is felt. If cleaning is left undone, the tartar will continue the insidious bone erosion until the teeth eventually fall out.
