Dentists typically use periodontal scaling and root planing as the first steps in the treatment of gum disease.
Periodontal scaling and root planing are nonsurgical. They are more of a deep cleaning that is done with handheld instruments or ultrasonic devices.
Researchers say that deep cleaning with ultrasonic instruments has similar results to manual deep cleaning with handheld instruments. Both treatments produce significant clinical results, but ultrasonic cleaning is faster, taking 20% to 50% less time than manual cleaning.