Next week, i have my periodontal cleaning and am very apprehensive about having any deep pockets. any advice for this?

Apprehension is good: Your periodontal pockets are what they are at the moment. Your apprehension indicates to me that you are conscientious about your periodontal health...and that is important in keeping your gingiva healthy as it will help you to perform good oral hygiene techniques. As for now, brush with a mix of 1/3 salt and 2/3 baking soda...it will lessen any edema you have and reduce the pocket depths.

Probing: during a periodontal recall cleaning, measurements are taken of pocket depths and recorded in millimeterrs by placing a probe marked in millimeters into the pocket areas. This is compared to previous readings to check for stability and bleeding points. This system is used to monitor progress of disease or arrested disease. Make sure the person doing the procedure discusses the results with you.

Periodontal cleaning: The purpose of a periodontal cleaning is to clean areas that were discovered to be periodontally involved during the initial exam. Periodontal cleaning is often done prior to any planned additional periodontal treatment, but is also done to reduce inflammation and infection to effect a more thorough and accurate periodontal diagnosis. Any apprehension should be discussed with your dentist.

Good hygiene: Preventing deep pockets usually entails good and consistent oral hygiene care at home. Follow the advise given by your dentist and hygienist. It is important to keep your appointments with the dentist and hygienist. Once periodontal pockets have developed, deep scaling and surgery may be necessary. Maintaining and developing good hygiene habit is your best defense against developing deep pockets