Professional teeth cleaning in Turkey

Professional teeth cleaning removes plaque and hardened tartar from the tooth surfaces and from just below the gumline, where brushing cannot reach. In the UK it is usually called a scale and polish or a hygienist appointment, and clinics abroad may list it as dental scaling, prophylaxis or airflow cleaning.

The most useful thing to know before you book is what it is not. Cleaning is not whitening. It removes stain and deposits, so your teeth look brighter because their real colour is uncovered, but it does not bleach the tooth. If you want a shade change, that is a different treatment.

If a lighter shade is what you are after, the teeth whitening page explains what actually changes tooth colour. Cleaning is usually done first either way, because bleaching gel works on a clean surface and not on tartar.

• Scale and polish

  Ultrasonic and hand instruments remove calculus from the crowns of the teeth and just under the gum, followed by polishing. The routine appointment most people mean by teeth cleaning.

• Airflow or air polishing

  A jet of fine powder, water and air lifts stain and soft deposits, including from between the teeth. Comfortable and good for staining from coffee, tea and tobacco, and often combined with scaling.

• Deep cleaning, root planing

  Cleaning of the root surfaces beneath the gum, for gum disease that has already formed pockets. This is periodontal treatment rather than a polish. It usually needs local anaesthetic and more than one appointment.

• Which one you need

  Follows a gum examination, not a price list. Ask whether your gums were measured and what the finding was before you accept a plan.

1. 1

   Examination and gum check

   The clinician looks at the teeth and gums and, where indicated, measures the pockets around the teeth. This is what separates a routine clean from periodontal treatment.
2. 2

   Removing calculus

   Ultrasonic instruments break up hardened deposits, with hand instruments for the areas the ultrasonic cannot finish, including just beneath the gum margin.
3. 3

   Stain removal

   Air polishing or a polishing paste lifts surface staining from coffee, tea, red wine and tobacco.
4. 4

   Polishing and finishing

   A smooth surface picks up new plaque more slowly than a rough one, which is why the polish is part of the treatment and not decoration.
5. 5

   Advice you can act on

   Where you are missing when you brush, whether interdental brushes or floss suit your gaps, and what your gum readings mean.
6. 6

   Planning the next steps

   If pockets were found, the plan is periodontal treatment. If cosmetic work is planned, this appointment is the gate it has to pass.

• Routine clean or periodontal treatment. A scale and polish and treatment of gum pockets are different appointments with different prices.
• Whether airflow is included. Air polishing is often priced separately from scaling.
• How many sessions. Deep cleaning is usually split across visits, sometimes by quadrant.
• Whether it is bundled with other dental work. Ask for it to be itemised so you can see what you are getting.
• Who performs it. A dentist or a dental hygienist, and both are reasonable answers as long as you know which.

The clinic list on this page shows each clinic's current price with a note on what it includes. For instalments, see payment plans. If shade is what you want to change, see teeth whitening; if cosmetic work is the plan, see veneers and dental implants, both of which start from healthy gums.

• Ask whether gum pockets are measured. A clinic that measures and tells you the numbers is doing dentistry. One that only polishes is doing valeting.
• Ask who performs the cleaning. Dentist or hygienist, named.
• Ask what their plan is if they find periodontitis. And whether that treatment is included or extra.
• Ask to see the gum chart afterwards. You are entitled to your own readings, and they are useful to your dentist at home.
• Ask what they would refuse to place. A clinic that will not put veneers on inflamed gums has told you something valuable about its standards.