Root Treatment (Endodontics)

Root treatment is a way of helping to halt gum disease. It involves deep scaling, to clean parts of teeth below the gum line, which cannot be reached with a toothbrush.

Root treatment cleans out the pockets, and removes plaque and tartar from the tooth roots. After a tooth has been root-planed,the pocket should shrink, making the gum sit closer to the tooth. You then need to be especially careful about cleaning the teeth above the gum line.

Root treatment will probably need to be repeated regularly. Root treatment takes longer than a normal scale and polish,and is sometimes done under a local anaesthetic. A course of treatment can be 3-4 visits usually a month between each visit, and your pockets can be irrigated with an antimicrobial solution like chlorhexidine.

A pocket depth chart is usually done on the first visit, which is known as a periodontal assessment to see where the deepest pockets are.