Dental Cleaning & Exams

How Often Should I Have My Teeth Cleaned?

Everyone is different, so Drs. Priyanka Dand and Rahen Kakadia recommend recall frequency on a patient-by-patient basis. Most of our patients come every six months, and it's clear that skipping a six-month checkup can cause a lot of issues down the road.

Twice a year is easy to remember, but there's no solid science behind that number—in fact, the twice-yearly recommendation is the result of a Pepsodent® toothpaste marketing campaign in the 1950s. At SOMA Integrative Dentistry, we (and our families) have our teeth cleaned every three to four months. With new information emerging every year about the link between gum inflammation and overall health, we believe this schedule makes sense.

The science has always shown that most people will have enough calculus (also known as tartar or hardened dental plaque) on their teeth by three or four months to need a cleaning. Plaque is a soft film of bacteria that forms on your teeth. It can be brushed or flossed away—but if you don’t practice consistent oral hygiene, the plaque hardens into calculus (also called tartar).

Here’s a striking fact: the amount of calculus on your teeth doubles each month. That means that four months after a professional cleaning, you’ll have twice the amount you had at three months. The longer you wait to have the tartar removed, the worse it gets. If you wait until seven months to get your teeth cleaned, you’ll have double the amount you had at six months—when most people already have a fair amount of buildup! The more hard tartar you have on your teeth, the more complex your visit becomes.