Plaques and tartar are very common in young adults of west London, which is the main source of infection affecting the gums and teeth. Though regular brushing and flossing are effective in preventing the formation of plaques, once it has formed any amount of brushing and flossing would not help removing it. For this you would need the help of a dentist or dental hygienist, who will do a deep cleaning of your teeth removing the plaques and tartar that have accumulated over time. By deep cleaning, your dentist means scaling and root planing of your teeth, which is a very common conservative procedure used in treating periodontal diseases. Even if you don’t have any gum or teeth infections, you can undergo this procedure as a preventive measure. If you have any inflammation of gum or periodontal tissue, your dentist might recommend scaling and root planing as the first step of treatment plan. This is a conservative procedure to remove the thickened calculus, which is also known as tartar, and plaques are removed along with bacteria collected below the gumline. Sometimes, your gum might have developed pockets where bacteria collect leading to gingivitis, periodontitis, and later tooth loss. Hence, when you visit your dentist, he will check for presence of gum pockets using a periodontal probe. If it can go beyond 3 mm depth, it means you have gum pocket and it could trap plaque and bacteria inside. Therefore, it is better to do scaling and root planing to remove the plaque and tartar from the tooth surface by scaling. The scaling procedure requires numbing the area of work and your dentist would be using some strong local anaesthetics for that purpose. For scaling dentists in London, use sonic or ultrasonic scalers and hand instruments such as periodontal scalers and curettes. By using these instruments dentist would blast off the hard rock like tartar with the vibrating blunt metal surface of the instrument while frequently cooling the area with a spray of water, which would remove the debris from the procedure. After scaling the root surface including the area below the gumline, root planing is done to smoothen the rough surface by removing the rough cementum and dentine along with calculus and microorganisms. Once the surface has become smooth, the gums can easily heal without any irritation and attach to the tooth surface effectively removing gum pockets. The smooth surface makes it difficult for microorganisms and plaque to develop. You might have some sensitiveness for two or three days after the procedure, hence you should avoid exposing your teeth to extreme temperatures. Till your gums heal properly, you may experience some bleeding or pain while brushing and flossing for which over-the-counter pain killers are helpful except aspirin, which will increase bleeding. But do remember to keep the followup appointment with your dentist and maintain proper oral hygiene