Tartar (also called calculus) is hardened dental plaque that has mineralized on your teeth. It starts as the soft, sticky film of bacteria that naturally builds up in your mouth, but once minerals from your saliva deposit into that film, it turns into a rough, cement-like substance that you can’t brush or floss away. Tartar typically begins forming within 1 to 14 days of plaque accumulation, reaching 60% to 90% of its final hardness by day 12.
What Tartar Is Made Of
About 77% of tartar by weight is mineral. The main components are calcium and phosphorus, which make up roughly 34% and 19% of that mineral content respectively. The crystalline structure is split fairly evenly among three mineral forms: hydroxyapatite (the same mineral found in tooth enamel and bone), whitlockite, and octacalcium phosphate. Each accounts for about a third of the mineral phase. Smaller amounts of magnesium, fluoride, and carbon dioxide round out the composition.
The remaining portion is organic material, mostly bacteria (both living and dead), proteins from saliva, and food debris. This combination of mineral and biological matter is what gives tartar its characteristic yellowish or brownish color and rough texture.
How Plaque Becomes Tartar
Every time you eat, bacteria in your mouth feed on sugars and starches, producing a sticky biofilm called plaque. Plaque on its own is soft and removable with a toothbrush. The trouble starts when plaque sits undisturbed long enough for calcium and phosphate ions in your saliva to seep into the bacterial layer and crystallize.
This mineralization process can begin in as little as 24 hours. The longer plaque stays on a tooth surface, the harder and more calcified it becomes. By about 12 days, the deposit is largely solidified. Once that happens, no amount of brushing will dislodge it.
Tartar tends to accumulate fastest near the openings of your salivary glands, which is why the back of your lower front teeth and the outer surfaces of your upper molars are the most common buildup zones. People who produce more saliva, have a higher salivary pH, or brush inconsistently tend to develop tartar more quickly.
Why It Matters for Your Health
Tartar creates a rough, porous surface that makes it much easier for new plaque to attach and grow. This sets off a cycle: more plaque leads to more tartar, which leads to more plaque. The bacteria trapped in and around tartar produce acids that erode enamel and toxins that inflame gum tissue. Over time, this leads to cavities, gingivitis, and eventually periodontitis, where the bone supporting your teeth begins to break down.
Tartar that forms below the gumline is especially damaging. It’s darker in color (often brown or black from blood pigments) and harder to detect, but it directly irritates the gum tissue and creates pockets between your teeth and gums where infection can take hold. Studies of adult populations consistently show high rates of calculus buildup. One study of dentate adults found tartar present in over 62% of people examined.
How Dentists Remove Tartar
Professional removal is the only safe and effective way to get rid of tartar. Dentists and hygienists use two main approaches: hand instruments (curettes, scalers, and hoes) and ultrasonic devices that vibrate at high frequencies to break calculus apart. Ultrasonic tools are particularly useful for reaching deep pockets around teeth and hard-to-access areas like the space where tooth roots split.
A meta-analysis comparing the two methods found no meaningful difference in outcomes. Both approaches reduced pocket depth and improved gum attachment equally well at six months, with similar rates of side effects. In practice, most dental offices use a combination of both, starting with ultrasonic scaling to break up larger deposits and finishing with hand instruments for precision cleaning along the root surface.
How often you need a professional cleaning depends on how quickly you personally build up tartar. While twice-yearly cleanings are a common baseline, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. A systematic review found no consensus on optimal recall frequency, and the American Dental Association supports tailoring cleaning intervals to each person’s risk level. If you’re a heavy tartar former, your dentist may recommend cleanings every three to four months.
Why You Shouldn’t Scrape Tartar at Home
Dental scaling tools are widely available online, and it’s tempting to try removing visible tartar yourself. This is genuinely risky. Without training, you can scratch your enamel (increasing sensitivity and creating new sites for plaque to cling to), damage your gum tissue (potentially causing gum recession that exposes sensitive roots), or injure your cheeks and tongue.
Perhaps the biggest hidden risk is accidentally pushing tartar beneath the gumline, which can cause gum abscesses and deep infections that are far worse than the original buildup. Professional hygienists spend years learning the precise angles and pressure needed to clean tooth surfaces without causing harm.
Preventing Tartar Buildup
Since tartar is just mineralized plaque, the key to prevention is removing plaque before it has a chance to harden. Brushing twice a day and flossing daily disrupts the bacterial film before mineralization begins. Electric toothbrushes with timers can help ensure you’re spending enough time on each area of your mouth.
Tartar-control toothpastes offer a measurable additional benefit. These products contain active ingredients that interfere with the crystallization process. A systematic review of anticalculus toothpastes found that most formulations significantly reduced new tartar formation compared to regular toothpaste at both three and six months. The most effective combination was pyrophosphate with a copolymer, which showed the largest reductions in calculus across multiple trials. Zinc citrate formulations also showed significant effects at certain concentrations, though lower-dose versions (0.75%) did not reach statistical significance.
These toothpastes won’t remove tartar that’s already formed, but they can slow down new deposits between dental visits. Look for the active ingredients on the label, often listed as sodium pyrophosphate, tetrasodium pyrophosphate, or zinc citrate. Products carrying the ADA Seal of Acceptance have been independently verified for effectiveness.
Supragingival vs. Subgingival Tartar
Tartar above the gumline (supragingival) is the kind you can see and feel. It usually appears as a yellowish or tan crusty deposit along the edges of your teeth near the gums. It’s fed primarily by minerals in saliva, which is why it clusters near salivary gland openings.
Tartar below the gumline (subgingival) is invisible without dental instruments but more destructive. It gets its mineral content from the fluid that seeps from inflamed gum tissue rather than from saliva, and blood components give it a darker color. This type is strongly associated with progressive gum disease and bone loss. Your dentist detects it by gently probing the space between your teeth and gums, and removing it often requires deeper scaling under local anesthesia.