New Member - Question on Extended Prophy

[CMO]

Greetings all,

This is my first post. I will try to be brief with my question. I avoided visiting a dentist for 15-20 years due to an auditory problem. I finally decided to see a dentist last year because of a brief episode of gum pain. He did a full series of x-rays and (to his surprise) found no bone loss. (I brush 2X/day and floss.) In any case, he signed me up for a "prophylactic cleaning" to be done in two appointments (half of mouth each time). I was told this "is not a root planing."

Two weeks ago, I went through the first appointment. It want OK, but there was a lot of tartar removal needed (some supragingival and some subgingival). I asked the hygienist to use only manual tools. My question is this; in addition to some extra sensitivity to cold food/beverages, I have noticed that there is sort-of a dull background pain that comes and goes (and moves around) on the side that was cleaned. is this normal? Could this be related to the sensitivity to cold? It is present even when I am doing nothing.

 

[Busybee]

Well done on finally making it to the dentist.

It's normal to have some sensitivity after a clean and if you had a lot of tartar then over the years the gum may have receded a bit & the enamel eroded which can cause sensitivity after cleaning. Use a sensitive toothpaste or they can put some fluoride paste on it at the surgery. It can take a few weeks for sensitivity to go. You may need a small filling somewhere but the dentist will wait and watch the area before diving in as it usually goes away. Just mention it at the next appointment.