What Is Teeth Scaling, and Does It Damage Teeth?

An examination first, to see how much deposit there is and whether it has gone below the gum line, which changes the procedure and the price.

Ultrasonic scaling. A metal tip vibrates at high frequency and breaks the bond between the hardened deposit and the tooth. A water spray cools the tip and washes debris away. This is the part that makes noise and sprays water, and it does most of the work.

Hand scaling. Fine instruments finish the surfaces and the contact points that the ultrasonic tip cannot reach cleanly.

Polishing. A rotating rubber cup with a mildly abrasive paste smooths the surface, which removes remaining stain and makes new plaque adhere less readily.

Sometimes a fluoride application afterwards, particularly where root surfaces are exposed and sensitivity is likely.

Scaling removes deposits from the crown of the tooth, above the gum line. One appointment, usually no anaesthetic, ₹800 to ₹2,500.

Root planing removes deposits that have tracked down the root surface inside a gum pocket. It requires local anaesthetic, is done a quadrant at a time over two to four appointments, and costs ₹1,500 to ₹4,000 per quadrant.

Which one you need is determined by measuring pocket depths with a probe, not by how the teeth look. Someone can have clean-looking teeth and deep pockets.

It does not weaken enamel. An ultrasonic scaler is tuned to fracture the mineral bond holding calculus to the tooth. It does not cut enamel, and enamel is not removed during the procedure.

It does not loosen teeth. This is the most persistent belief and it has an understandable origin: heavy tartar physically splints teeth together, so removing it lets pre-existing mobility become noticeable. The mobility was caused by the bone loss that the tartar drove. Leaving the tartar to hold the teeth in place is not a strategy, it accelerates the loss.

It does not create gaps between teeth. The gaps were already there, filled with deposit and hidden by swollen gum tissue. As inflammation resolves, gums shrink back to their actual level. This is a real and sometimes unwelcome cosmetic change, and it is honest to say so: what you are seeing is the true state of the gums, revealed rather than caused.

It is not something to do only once. Deposits reform. Scaling is a maintenance procedure, not a one-time correction.

Sensitivity to cold for a few days up to two weeks is common, because root surfaces that were covered by calculus are now exposed. Desensitising toothpaste helps, and it settles.

Gums may be tender and bleed slightly for a day or two, then noticeably less than before as inflammation resolves.

Teeth may feel unfamiliar, often described as slippery or as having more space. That is the surface actually being clean.

If sensitivity persists beyond two weeks, or a tooth becomes painful rather than just sensitive, that warrants a look rather than waiting it out.

Every six months for most people. Every three to four months if you smoke, have diabetes, have been treated for gum disease, or have implants, because deposits reform faster in those groups and the consequences of missing them are larger.

The interval should be set for you rather than applied by default. Tartar formation rate varies substantially between people and is largely down to saliva composition, which is not something you control.