In professional dental terminology, these procedures fall within the field of periodontology, while patients most commonly associate them with “teeth cleaning” or removal of dental calculus. This association is not incorrect, as a significant part of routine preventive care indeed involves the removal of tartar deposits. However, modern protocols extend far beyond this approach.
Today, the focus is on being as gentle and tissue-preserving as possible when treating and maintaining oral structures. For this reason, My Dental Place has introduced Guided Biofilm Therapy (GBT), a contemporary and comprehensive approach to professional prophylaxis.
This protocol typically involves one or more visits. Before each procedure, plaque and calculus are disclosed using special disclosing agents, allowing precise visualisation of biofilm accumulation. This ensures that treatment is carried out only in the areas that require intervention, minimizing trauma to both teeth and soft tissues.
In addition to the clinical procedure itself, each appointment includes patient education regarding appropriate oral hygiene tools and techniques. It is important to understand that while professional prophylaxis begins in the dental office, its long-term success is maintained at home through consistent daily care.
What is Guided Biofilm Therapy?
Classic “teeth cleaning” is most commonly associated with prolonged use of ultrasonic instruments, an unpleasant sound, vibrations, and discomfort in patients with sensitive teeth. With GBT (Guided Biofilm Therapy), a large part of the cleaning is performed using AirFlow technology. This is a combination of warmed water, air, and fine powder that gently removes plaque, staining, and soft biofilm.
This makes the procedure significantly more comfortable for the patient, with reduced sensitivity and a much lower need for aggressive ultrasonic scaling. In addition to being more pleasant in terms of sensation, GBT also enables a more precise, gentle, and controlled preventive treatment.
Standard dental scaling
Despite our efforts to reduce the use of ultrasonic instruments during preventive care, they remain an indispensable part of modern dental treatment. GBT can be used as a standalone approach only in patients who have already undergone professional cleaning and maintain excellent oral hygiene. In such cases, routine follow-up visits typically reveal only soft deposits, which can be effectively removed using AirFlow technology and other minimally invasive methods.
However, in the presence of harder, long-standing deposits, ultrasonic scaling remains necessary. Only this method allows for the effective and safe removal of mineralized dental calculus. In other words, GBT does not replace ultrasound in all cases, but enables a significantly gentler and more comfortable preventive approach when the clinical situation allows it.
Local anaesthesia during dental scaling?
In patients with significantly inflamed and sensitive gums, treatment protocols are modified to ensure maximum comfort during the procedure. Care is performed gently, in a stepwise manner, using settings adjusted to the individual condition of the tissues. In cases where the patient still experiences increased discomfort, the use of local anaesthesia is entirely appropriate and often significantly improves the overall experience. In this way, preventive care remains both precise and effective while ensuring patient comfort.