Nonsurgical and Surgical Treatments for Advanced Periodontitis
Gum disease, or periodontal disease, is a bacterial infection that causes inflammation of the soft tissues around your teeth and worsens if untreated. Over time, it can erode the bone supporting your teeth, leading to tooth mobility and loss.
Symptoms vary by stage and may include red, swollen, tender, receding, and bleeding gums, periodontal pockets, bad breath, pus-filled abscesses, tooth gaps, and bite changes. When prevention is no longer effective, particularly in advanced stages with irreversible damage, nonsurgical and surgical treatments are available to mitigate the effects of gum disease.
Gum Disease Treatments
Treatment for gum disease varies depending on its stage, with a range of both nonsurgical and surgical options available.
Nonsurgical Treatments
- Scaling and Root Planing: This procedure goes beyond a routine dental cleaning to clean deeply beneath the gum line. Local anesthesia is used to numb the gums during the process.
Your dental hygienist removes bacteria from beneath your gum line and smooths the tooth roots to prevent further plaque and bacteria buildup.
Surgical Treatments
Our team will refer patients to a periodontist and work closely with them when determining your treatment plan.
- Flap Surgery: Your periodontist makes an incision along your gum line, temporarily lifting the gum tissue away from your teeth. This exposes the tooth roots for thorough cleaning. If bone loss is present, your periodontist may reshape the bone ridge to facilitate better daily oral hygiene.
- Dental Bone Grafts: For significant bone loss, bone-grafting material is placed in areas with insufficient bone tissue. This graft acts as a “scaffold” to promote new bone growth.
- Gum Grafts: To address gum recession caused by gum disease, a gum graft may be performed. Tissue, sourced from the roof of your mouth or a tissue bank, is grafted to areas with lost gum tissue.
- Guided Tissue Regeneration: A biocompatible membrane is placed between your existing bone and tooth to prevent unwanted tissue growth and promote new bone development.
- Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP): This procedure uses plasma from your blood, which is separated from red and white blood cells using a centrifuge. The PRP is then applied to areas lacking bone or tissue to stimulate growth and regeneration.