Dental Hygiene Appointments: Cleaning, Gum Care and Prevention

Hygiene treatment targets a bacterial inflammation of the gums. It is a clinical procedure, not a cosmetic one.

Periodontal assessment comes before instrumentation. A Basic Periodontal Examination divides the mouth into six sextants and scores each one, which is the screening standard set by the British Society of Periodontology. Scores of 3 and 4 indicate detailed six-point pocket charting, recording probing depth and bleeding at six sites on each tooth, along with recession, mobility and furcation involvement. That is how gum disease is found, and none of it forms part of a cosmetic clean.

What the screening looks for is a progression. Plaque builds up on the teeth and irritates the gums.

Which of those two you have determines what your appointment involves, and it is how gum disease develops that decides it.

This is also why frequency has no universal answer. A 2018 Cochrane review found that for adults without severe periodontitis who already attend regularly, a routine scale and polish made little or no difference to gum inflammation, pocket depths or quality of life over two to three years. The review did not test what replaces it. What follows clinically is that the appointment earns its place through assessment, through treatment aimed at disease that is actually present, and through changing what happens between visits. Some patients are told they need less frequent treatment than they were expecting. Others are told they need considerably more. Both are recommendations, and both should come with the reasoning attached.

There is no single correct interval. It depends on the state of your gums and your risk of disease.

NICE guidance on oral health reviews sets intervals for adults between 3 and 24 months, assigned in three-month steps according to risk and reviewed at each appointment. That guidance covers dental check-ups rather than hygiene visits specifically, but the principle carries: the interval follows your risk, and it changes when your risk changes.

The NHS advises that adults should not go longer than two years without a dental check-up, and that people who smoke or have diabetes may be advised to attend more often so their gums can be monitored closely. For patients who have completed treatment for periodontitis and moved into a maintenance phase, guidance is that full probing depths across the whole mouth are recorded at least once a year.

Hygiene appointments start from £75 for a 30 minute scale and polish, and from £120 for air polishing or a maintenance appointment.

Deepcar Dental Care is a private practice and does not hold an NHS contract, so hygiene fees are private fees. For context on the NHS position: scaling is available on the NHS where a dental professional judges it clinically necessary, and where it is not judged necessary the patient pays for it privately.

What the fee covers is assessment as well as treatment. A Basic Periodontal Examination is carried out at every examination, six-point charting follows where the screening indicates it, and non-surgical periodontal therapy and root surface debridement under local anaesthetic are provided in house rather than referred out. Fees are shown as starting points because the final figure depends on the condition of the surrounding gum and bone, and on the time and materials needed to treat safely. You are told the fee before treatment begins, never after.