Dental cleaning is a preventive service performed by dentists to maintain optimum oral health. The procedure aims at removing the dental plaque and tartar that has accumulated on the teeth.
Dental procedure code D1110 applies to dental cleanings for adults. ADA defines Prophylaxis-Adult as a dental prophylaxis that is performed on transitional or permanent dentition. It includes scaling and/or polishing procedures to remove coronal plaque, calculus, and stains."
Prophylaxis—child age 13 or younger: A primarily preventive treatment intended to control local irritational factors by the removal of plaque, calculus and stains from the tooth structures in the permanent and transitional dentition.
It is a procedure that follows periodontal therapy and continues at varying intervals, determined by the dentist's clinical evaluation of the patient, for the life of the dentition & meant to be used after periodontal treatment such as scaling/root planing or osseous surgery. It is meant to describe a more in-depth procedure than a prophylaxis in the presence of a disease state.
