Periodontal (Gum Disease) Treatment

Periodontal or gum disease is treated by a dentist who is specialized in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of periodontal disease. Several methods are available to treat periodontitis depending on the severity of the disease. Periodontitis is the advanced stage of gingivitis, which is the inflammation of the tooth. The inflammation will gradually pull gums from the teeth forming spaces called pockets. These pockets will become infected with bacteria, which will cause the support structures around the teeth to get damaged due to infection. The main goal of treatment is to clean the bacteria from these pockets.

A periodontal treatment will become successful through proper treatment and satisfactory oral hygiene. In extreme cases, patients end up suffering from permanent disfigurement. Reconstructive and plastic surgery will correct the disfigurements, but it is not possible in every case. Depending on the severity of the gum disease, the periodontal treatment varies greatly. Both non-surgical and surgical treatments are available to cure gum disease. The non-surgical treatments include scaling, root planning, and medications. Surgical treatments include flap surgery, bone grafting, soft tissue grafts, enamel matrix derivative application and guided tissue regeneration.

Non Surgical Treatments
Root planing and scaling are treatments for gum disease at its early stages. Scaling includes removing tartar and bacteria from the gum line by scraping. The rough spots seen on the root of the tooth where germs assemble are removed by root planing. The tartar and plaque can be removed by using laser in certain cases. You may experience slight pain for about 48 hours after root planning treatment. These treatments are done in 3-4 visits keeping an interval of one week between the visits at our office located in New York

Medications can also be used along with scaling and root planing treatments. Your dentist may advise you to use oral or topical medications for the control of bacterial infection. Usually, topical medications are used in the treatment of periodontitis. Insertion of floss, use of gels and mouth rinses that contain antibiotics to clean the teeth pockets will help you to reduce the disease to a great extent. In order to eliminate the bacteria completely, you will need to use oral antibiotics. Depending up on the progression of the gum disease, the periodontist may recommend that you undergo a surgical treatment.

Surgical Treatments
There are several kinds of surgical treatment for periodontitis. Flap surgery or pocket reduction surgery is a surgical treatment in which the dentist will create small incisions in the gums to expose the tooth root for scaling and planing in an effective way. Before suturing the gum tissue, the bone beneath the tooth will be reshaped. Flap surgery is performed using local anesthesia and the surgery will take 1-2 hours to complete. Bone grafting is a surgery performed when the disease damages the bone around the root of the tooth. The graft used will contain small fragments of your bone or donated or synthetic bones. Bone grafting holds the tooth in its place in order to prevent the loss of the tooth.

Guided tissue regeneration is a procedure in which a special biocompatible fabric is placed between the tooth and the existing bone. This procedure enables regrowth of the bone while the fabric prevents entry of unwanted tissue into the affected area so that the bone is grown back. Enamel matrix derivative application is a technique that involves the application of a special gel on the affected tooth root. The gel stimulates the regrowth of the bones and tissues surrounding the teeth.

For more information regarding gum disease (Periodontal) treatment, visit our office located in the Upper East Side in Manhattan.