Penskaleran diperlukan; kalau tidak, karang gigi akan merosakkan gusi.

Penskaleran refers to dental scaling: the procedure of removing hardened deposits from the teeth.

It is understandable Malay, especially in a formal or clinical context. However, in everyday speech, many speakers may simply use the borrowed English word scaling instead.

So:

• penskaleran = more formal/technical
• scaling = very common in real-life dental conversations

It is a noun formed with the Malay pattern peN-...-an, which often creates words for a process, procedure, or activity.

That means penskaleran is basically the process of scaling.

This pattern is common in Malay. For example:

• pendaftaran = registration
• pembersihan = cleaning
• penskaleran = scaling

You do not need to break it down perfectly every time, but it helps to recognize peN-...-an as a pattern that often turns something into the name of a process.

Because diperlukan is a passive form meaning is needed or is required.

Compare:

• Pesakit memerlukan penskaleran.
  = The patient needs scaling.

• Penskaleran diperlukan.
  = Scaling is needed.

So in your sentence, the focus is on penskaleran itself, not on the person who needs it.

A helpful shortcut:

• memerlukan = to need
• diperlukan = to be needed

Here, kalau tidak means otherwise or literally if not.

In this sentence:

• kalau tidak = if that does not happen / otherwise

So the structure is:

• Penskaleran diperlukan = Scaling is needed
• kalau tidak = otherwise / if not
• karang gigi akan merosakkan gusi = tartar will damage the gums

You may also see:

• jika tidak = a bit more formal
• kalau tak = more casual/spoken

The semicolon links two closely related clauses:

• Penskaleran diperlukan
• kalau tidak, karang gigi akan merosakkan gusi

It works much like in English: the second part gives the consequence of the first part.

Malay punctuation is generally used in ways that are quite similar to English. A comma is also common in less formal writing, but the semicolon makes the relationship especially clear.

Karang gigi means tartar or dental calculus.

It is a fixed expression in Malay for the hardened buildup on teeth. Even if a learner notices that karang can have other meanings in other contexts, here karang gigi should be learned as one set phrase.

So:

• karang gigi = tartar
• not just any karang
• not something you usually translate word by word in isolation

Because Malay noun combinations often put the main noun first and the describing word after it.

So karang gigi is literally something like tooth tartar or dental tartar.

This word order is very common in Malay. Compare:

• doktor gigi = dentist
• sakit gigi = toothache
• karang gigi = tartar

For an English speaker, this can feel reversed at first, because English often puts the describing noun first.

Akan usually marks a future or expected action, similar to will in English.

So:

• karang gigi akan merosakkan gusi = tartar will damage the gums

Here it shows the likely consequence if scaling is not done.

In Malay, akan is sometimes omitted when the future meaning is already obvious from context, but including it makes the warning clearer and more explicit.

Because rosak and merosakkan do different jobs.

• rosak = damaged, broken, spoiled; or to become damaged
• merosakkan = to damage something

In this sentence, karang gigi is doing the action to gusi, so Malay uses the transitive verb merosakkan.

Compare:

• Gusi rosak.
  = The gums are damaged.

• Karang gigi merosakkan gusi.
  = Tartar damages the gums.

So -kan helps create the sense of causing damage to something.

Malay usually does not use articles like a, an, or the.

It also often does not mark plural nouns unless needed for clarity.

So:

• gigi can mean tooth or teeth, depending on context
• gusi can mean gum or gums, depending on context

In your sentence, real-world meaning makes it clear that:

• karang gigi means tartar in general
• gusi refers to the gums

This is very normal in Malay. Context does a lot of work.

It is a good, correct, and fairly formal sentence.

In more everyday speech, people might say things like:

• Scaling diperlukan; kalau tak, karang gigi akan merosakkan gusi.
• Perlu buat scaling; kalau tak, karang gigi boleh merosakkan gusi.

The original sentence sounds more written, medical, or informational. That makes sense for health advice.

So the short answer is:

• Yes, it is natural
• but it sounds more formal than casual conversation