Gum disease treatment in Medellín — what Americans are usually told is a “deep cleaning” — from $500,000 COP per quadrant.
If a dentist has told you that a normal cleaning will not do and you need something deeper, what they are describing is gum disease treatment. This page is what it involves, what it costs, and how to tell whether you actually need it.
A deep cleaning is not a thorough cleaning
This is the confusion worth clearing up first, because the names are almost identical and the treatments are not.
A cleaning works on what is above the gum line and just under it. It is one appointment, it is preventive, and it is where most people should be.
Scaling and root planing — the deep cleaning — works below the gum line, on the surfaces of the roots, in the pockets that form when gum disease has pulled the gum away from the tooth. It is done with local anaesthetic, usually over more than one appointment, and it is gum disease treatment rather than prevention.
Two millimetres and six, drawn to scale. The pocket is what gets measured — the bone line underneath it is what actually decides whether the tooth stays.
If nobody has measured your pockets, nobody yet knows which of the two you need. That measurement is the examination, and it takes a few minutes.
Closed field and open field
There are two ways to clean a root surface, and the difference is whether the gum is lifted to see it.
The same tooth and the same root surface, cleaned two ways. What the higher price buys is being able to see what you are cleaning.
Closed field
$500,000 COP per quadrant
The roots are cleaned through the pocket, without opening the gum. No incision, no stitches. This is what most cases need and where treatment starts.
Open field
$700,000 COP per quadrant
The gum is lifted so the root surface and the bone can be seen directly, then closed again. It is for pockets too deep to clean blind, and it is surgery rather than a cleaning.
We do not start with the open version. Closed field first, then a reassessment, and the deeper option only where the pockets did not respond. Going straight to surgery is faster to schedule and worse for the patient.
What a quadrant is, and why the price is per quadrant
The mouth is divided into four: upper right, upper left, lower right, lower left. Gum disease rarely affects all four equally, so treatment is priced by the part of the mouth that actually needs it.
That matters for the arithmetic, and the arithmetic is simple: the per-quadrant price multiplied by the number of quadrants that need treating. There is no whole-mouth package. Four quadrants of closed field is $2,000,000, and four of open field would be $2,800,000.
We are showing you the ceiling on purpose. Most people need two quadrants rather than four, and a treatment plan that quotes you for all four without having measured each one is not a treatment plan.
If your gums have gone the other way
Some people arrive with the opposite complaint: the gum has pulled back, the roots are showing, the teeth look longer every year and cold drinks have started to hurt.
That is recession, and it is treated by putting tissue back rather than taking anything away — gum regeneration, or root coverage. From $1,500,000 COP, or around $1,000,000 where it is a single tooth.
Whether it can be covered, and how much of it, depends on the bone under the gum and on why the recession happened in the first place. Brushing too hard, a tooth out of position and gum disease all produce recession and none of them is fixed the same way.
And a recession that is stable, not sensitive and not getting worse sometimes needs nothing at all. We will say so.
Who does it
Dr. David Arango
Periodontist · University lecturer in periodontics · More than 18 years in practice
Gum disease is not a cleaning done harder. It is its own specialty, with its own postgraduate degree, and the reason is that what happens under the gum decides whether the teeth above it stay.
Why this is worth dealing with
Gum disease is slow, usually painless, and the thing that removes most adult teeth. Not decay. Bone loss around teeth that were otherwise fine.
Bone that has already gone does not come back from a cleaning. What gum disease treatment does is stop the loss and keep what is there, which is why the price of doing it now compares well with the price of replacing a tooth later.
It is also the reason we would rather see you for a cleaning every six months than for this.
What gum disease treatment costs
| COP | |
|---|---|
| Scaling and root planing, closed field, per quadrant | $500,000 |
| Scaling and root planing, open field, per quadrant | $700,000 |
| Gum regeneration or root coverage | from $1,500,000 |
| Root coverage, single tooth | around $1,000,000 |
Prices are in Colombian pesos. We quote in pesos because the exchange rate moves — you can check today’s rate. How many quadrants you need is decided by measuring, not by estimating.
Before you book flights
Send us any X-rays you have and tell us what you were told. If somebody has already quoted you for a deep cleaning, say how many quadrants they said and we will tell you whether that sounds right.
Gum disease treatment is spread over more than one appointment, so this is not a one-afternoon trip. We will tell you how many days before you buy anything. More about the clinic and the people in it.
Book it.
Write to us on WhatsApp and we will find you a time — this week if you live here, or around your dates if you are flying in. Someone at the clinic who speaks English answers, not a call centre.
Chat on WhatsAppIf you would rather not
- Email info@medellindentalsolutions.com
- Contact form Send us the details Opening hours, how to find us, and a form that reaches the same inbox.