Has a cavity already formed?
Filling or inlay
Preventive care keeps a healthy tooth healthy, but it doesn't reverse an existing defect. If the surface has already broken down, you need restorative treatment, more under Fillings & Inlays.
Services · Preventive Care & Tooth Preservation
Preventive Care & Professional Cleaning
Come regularly. Need less treatment. Keep your own teeth longer.
Professional cleaning removes what your own brush can't reach: tartar, stubborn plaque, the hard-to-reach spots just below the gumline. Coming regularly buys you, above all, one thing: time. A finding caught early stays a small appointment.
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Preventive CareProfessional CleaningPZRProphylaxis
What you can't feel is still there
Early-stage decay doesn't hurt, neither does early gum inflammation, and periodontitis progresses silently for years. The moment you notice something is almost never the moment it started. That's exactly the gap a check-up closes.
And no matter how long it's been since your last appointment, the best time for the next one doesn't depend on that.
How it would work for you
- A quick check
A look at your teeth, gums and plaque, plus a question about any sensitive spots. That sets the order and technique.
- Loosening hard deposits
Ultrasound loosens the tartar, then hand instruments clean the edge just below the gumline too.
- Stains & polishing
Air-polishing removes soft plaque and staining from coffee, tea, red wine and tobacco. Finally, all surfaces are polished.
- Between the teeth
The right brush sizes are measured, tried and sent home with you: the spot most often missed at home.
- Fluoride & guidance
A fluoride gel to protect the tooth structure, plus a few short, concrete tips for home. Then, your next appointment.
A finding caught early
stays a small appointment.What preventive care really buys you is time.
What it costs
The check-up is a covered service twice a year, and so is the annual removal of hard deposits. That's where the covered service ends, though. Professional cleaning itself isn't a mandatory public-insurance benefit: many funds contribute voluntarily, at varying amounts, and private supplementary dental insurance is a separate product, independent of that.
For children and teenagers, public insurance covers considerably more. Only the cleaning itself isn't automatically included there either, we run it on its own age-based schedule. Privately insured patients are billed according to the standard dental fee schedule.
If private cost comes into it, you'll know beforehand: we tell you what the covered service includes and what belongs to the professional cleaning before we begin. Whether and how much your fund or a supplementary policy contributes is something we're happy to check with you.
When something else is a better fit
Sometimes preventive care isn't the last step, but the first before another treatment, and sometimes cleaning isn't the answer at all, but something that complements or precedes it.
Before larger procedures, tooth replacement, implants, orthodontic treatment, an inflammation-free mouth is the goal wherever possible: restorations hold more reliably on healthy tissue, and procedures heal better there too.
Do you want brighter teeth, not just clean ones?
Whitening
Cleaning removes surface staining and reveals your own tooth colour again, it doesn't change it. If you really want brighter teeth, Whitening is the right place.
Have you already been treated for periodontitis?
Aftercare in supportive therapy
For the first two years after treatment, public insurance covers a dedicated, more frequent aftercare schedule. After that, you return to regular cleanings, more under Periodontal Treatment.
A healthy, inflammation-free mouth supports every larger restoration better, that's why preventive care usually stands at the start of a treatment plan, not at its edge.
Whether a professional cleaning is the right path for you or something else, we'll work that out together.
Zahngesundheit verstehen, Entscheidung leben.
If you'd like to know more
Is professional cleaning really necessary, or is this just a sales pitch?
A fair question, and the honest answer is nuanced: that cleaning achieves things nobody can reach at home is not in dispute. Whether it additionally protects a healthy, low-risk adult mouth against decay and gum problems isn't conclusively settled by science: independent institutes see no proven added benefit over the covered service, yet professional dental bodies still recommend it. What's clearly established is the benefit for children and as part of periodontitis treatment. That's why we decide based on findings, and we'll also tell you if someone needs less.
Do my coffee and red wine stains disappear with the covered service?
No. The covered service is removing hard deposits; stubborn surface staining needs air-polishing, and that's part of the professional cleaning. That's the one difference you'll actually see in the mirror afterwards, so we tell you beforehand.
How often should I come?
Our standard is twice a year. With elevated risk, for example after periodontitis treatment, with implants or a fixed brace, more like three to four times. If your mouth stays consistently unremarkable, once a year is enough, and we'll tell you that ourselves, unprompted. We set this together based on findings, not by a fixed formula.
Does it hurt?
Usually not, an anaesthetic generally isn't needed. Sensitive tooth necks or inflamed gums can cause a brief twinge, just tell us and we'll adjust technique and pace. If you're generally sensitive as an adult, we numb the area locally with a gel applied to the gumline without an injection, which wears off on its own after about twenty minutes. We don't use it with children and teenagers, there we work through pace, technique and breaks instead.
How long does this take?
Professional cleaning usually takes around an hour, less with fewer teeth. A check-up alone takes about 15 minutes; we plan around an hour when both are combined into one appointment.