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The disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth1 are varied. Oral hygiene and health are important for combatting various gum diseases.
Regular brushing and flossing will definitely help maintain your oral hygiene, but sometimes deep cleaning is recommended by the dentist.
Along with the advantages, there are also many disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth. Deep cleaning could bring many oral health problems to you, and in some cases, it works pretty well.
So, before deciding if deep cleaning teeth is worth trying or not, you should learn about the disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth in detail.
This article will help you know properly about the disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth.
1. Deep Cleaning Teeth: A Dental Cleaning Process
Sometimes, plaque and tartar development in your gums affect your oral hygiene causing various oral health problems.2 Here, deep-cleaning teeth come as a savior for getting rid of plaque and tartar.
Deep cleaning teeth will also contribute to reducing inflammation and keeping your gums healthy.
You need to clean the plaque formed on your teeth and gums, as they contain many bacteria that are extremely dangerous for your body. These bacteria would mix up with your saliva and affect your physical health by entering your body.
No doubt, you could clean the plaque formed on your gums by brushing but sometimes brushing is not enough to remove the plaque.
The leftover plaque would become tartar (the final stage of plaque) with time causing serious gum diseases3.
Therefore, the deep cleaning process is recommended by a dentist as it would help in combatting oral health problems by cleaning your mouth properly.

2. 7 Disadvantages of Deep Cleaning Teeth
In some circumstances, your gums get separated from your teeth, and the width space between these is more than 5 millimeters, hence this condition would make a call for deep cleaning. This condition would make your gums and teeth weak which could cause tooth loss or tooth decay in the future.
To prevent such repercussions many dentists, recommend deep cleaning teeth procedures.
Deep cleaning teeth will be extremely advantageous for your oral health, but there are a few disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth that you must learn.
2.1. Causes Pain
Discomfort is a very normal thing after a deep cleaning teeth process, such as root planing or teeth scaling.
In this process, a local anesthetic effect is required to numb your gums and this may further cause some pain. In the deep cleaning process4, you will have consequences such as inflamed or swollen gums.
In some cases, minor bleeding is also seen after deep cleaning teeth.

2.2. No Guarantee for Reattachment of the Gums
Deep cleaning is mainly done to reattach your gums with teeth but there is no guarantee for the same. In the deep cleaning process, your gums would be free from tartar and plaques, but this doesn’t give complete assurance for gum reattachment.
The main mechanism behind deep cleaning is that it will ward off the gum diseases affecting your gum health. Hence, there is a chance of gum reattachment with teeth.5
In some cases, it fails to connect your gums with your teeth as it is a treatment based on probability.
2.3. Nerve Damage
Nerve damage could be an expected consequence of deep cleaning. Sometimes, the solution used in the process enters other parts of your body that may cause nerve damage.
Nerve damage could also be a result of trauma caused during the process.
This is one of the most dangerous disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth as it will cause many unpleasant symptoms and signs.
2.4. Gum Receding
Deep cleaning teeth improve gum health by treating gum diseases, but in some cases, it may cause your gums to recede. It’s true to say that gum receding would be mostly due to your gums not getting attached to your teeth.
Scaling or root planning seems really effective if you are at the initial stage of any gum disease but it may not be effective for people in the last stage of receding gum or any other gum disease.
2.5. Possible Infections

There is a chance of oral infections after your deep cleaning teeth process. This dental treatment could also host infection for your oral health if you have a compromised immune system.
People with low immunity may face infections in their mouth after this dental deep cleaning teeth procedure.
Experts also recommended taking a few antibiotics to not get infected after deep cleaning teeth. As deep cleaning teeth may sometimes cause bacteria to infiltrate your bloodstream.
2.6. Tender Gums
Deep cleaning teeth could make your gums tender for a few days after the process. The whole tenderness of gums is quite normal according to experts. This process not only causes sensitivity in gums but could make them tender as well.
These symptoms could cause pain in your teeth. Therefore, if you are preparing yourself for deep cleaning teeth, then be ready to eat very restricted food as not everything would be friendly for tender and sensitive mouths.
2.7. Quite Expensive
It’s a dental procedure and will be heavier on your pockets. Deep cleaning teeth would be expensive and not for everyone. Dentists prefer dividing your mouth into four quadrants. They try to clean a single quadrant at a time.
If you’re someone looking for deep cleaning teeth, then be ready to pay a little more.

Read more about gingivitis and periodontitis published in February 2020 by the National Center for Biotechnology Information Library of Medicine.
3. In the End
Deep cleaning teeth is a great process to help bad breath and for improving your gum health. We can definitely say this process is a blessing for people with plaque and tartar.
The disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth are also something one must note before setting their way to the clinic for deep cleaning teeth.
You could also prevent deep cleaning teeth by brushing your teeth properly as it removes plaque and tartar at the early stage.
There are many more home remedies that one could do to properly maintain the gum line and teeth’ health. If you wish to do scaling and root planing then consult your doctor to know its side effects.
4. Frequently Asked Questions
4.1. Can I eat after a deep cleaning?
No. You should not eat immediately after the cleaning process, specifically, until the anesthesia wears off.
4.2. Is deep cleaning painful?
There will be discomfort during the process even though anesthesia will numb the pain. However, after the deep cleaning process, you will have consequences such as inflamed or swollen gums which can give pain.
4.3. Is deep cleaning risky?
Yes, it can be risky. There are many disadvantages of deep cleaning teeth. Sometimes, the solution used in the process enters other parts of the body that may cause nerve damage. Also, there could be oral infections after the cleaning process.
Check out all these disadvantages of deep cleaning beforehand to avoid any risks of deep cleaning.
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Proofread by:
Dr. Foram Bhuta
Dentist (B.D.S)
- Marending, Monika, Thomas Attin, and Matthias Zehnder. “Treatment options for permanent teeth with deep caries.” SWISS DENTAL JOURNAL SSO–Science and Clinical Topics 126.11 (2016): 1007-1027. ↩︎
- Kim, Jung Ki, et al. “Oral health problems and mortality.” Journal of dental sciences 8.2 (2013): 115-120. ↩︎
- Thakur, Anita, Payal Guleria, and Nimisha Bansal. “Symptom & risk factor based diagnosis of Gum diseases using neural network.” 2016 6th International Conference-Cloud System and Big Data Engineering (Confluence). IEEE, 2016. ↩︎
- Xing, Peng, et al. “Deep cleaning of a metallurgical zinc leaching residue and recovery of valuable metals.” International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy, and Materials 24 (2017): 1217-1227. ↩︎
- Douglass, Alan B., and Joanna M. Douglass. “Common dental emergencies.” American family physician 67.3 (2003): 511-517. ↩︎
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