What is Periodontal Disease:

Periodontitis is an infection of the gums and tissue supporting your teeth. It is caused by bacterial plaque and tartar which lead to loss of bone and connective tissue and formation of pockets around teeth. If left untreated periodontitis can result in tooth loss.

Signs of Gum Disease:
Some signs can indicate that periodontal disease is evident, these can include:

• Bleeding/redness of gums (gingivitis)
• Swelling in gums
• Recession or pulling away of gums from teeth
• Bad taste or odor in the mouth
• Changes in the form and contour of the gums

Factors Increasing Risk of Periodontitis:
Factors that can potentially enhance risk for periodontal disease may include:

• Smoking
• Diabetes
• Pregnancy
• Stress

Increased Risk of Other Conditions:
Periodontal disease when left untreated has been found to be able to confer increased risk for other conditions including:

• Coronary heart diseases
• Pre-term low birth weight babies

Treatment of Periodontal Disease: Diagnosis

Periodontal examination and x-rays are our first step in diagnosing the presence and stage of gum disease, so that we can be able to offer appropriate treatment.

Scaling and Root-Planing:
For patients with periodontitis, the next phase of treatment is scaling and root-planing to remove bacterial plaque and calculus around the teeth, and reduce inflammation.

Osseous Surgery
Osseous surgery is utilized to reduce pocket depth, and clean out remaining bacteria within the tissue.It allows the placement of gum tissue at a more favorable position.

Regenerative Surgery
Bone grafting material and membranes are placed around teeth that have loss of supporting tissue in order to regain some of the lost tissue.

Soft Tissue Grafts
When gums around teeth have recession, and there is loss of the gum tissue, a number of procedures utilizing the patient’s gum tissue to augment the lost tissue can also be performed. To maximize your comfort, we utilize dermal grafts for gingival augmentations, hence decreasing your discomfort post-operatively by having one surgical area.

Dental Implants:
When patients are missing or have lost some of their dentition. Dental implants have been found to provide an extremely stable replacement for the missing teeth, enhancing function and esthetics in comparison to removable prosthesis.

Gingivectomy:
For patients undergoing orthodontic treatment, or patients taking certain medications, such as calcium channel blockers, periodontal disease can sometimes lead to enlargement of the gums. Gingivectomy to reshape the contour of the teeth is performed. This procedure allows for better esthetics and oral hygiene.

Crown Lengthening:
For fractures of teeth that occur bellow the gum-line, or when the amount of tooth present in not adequate to support a crown or veneer, crown lengthening can be performed to add length to the tooth in order to enhance the placement of restorations.

Advances in Dental Implant Placement:
Dental implants have undergone outstanding advances in order to continue to offer ideal tooth replacement alternatives for patients, that are extremely comfortable, safe and esthetically pleasing. Now utilizing osseo-speed and nano-type surfaces by adding fluoride and calcium phosphate respectively, there is an increase in bone strength and attachment to implants surfaces allowing immediate placement and also immediate or delayed restorations of dental implants.

What this means for patients is that instead of having to wait for 3- 6 months for integration of implants prior to having crown placed and restored, the implants can be restored on the same day if they bone condition allows it, or as little as 6-8 weeks following implant placement. These new surfaces not only are able to increase the level of bone attachment, but can be used for patients that might not have been able to get implants before including patients with less bone densities, and can be used as immediate placement for patients that are having bone augmentation in conjunction with the implant placement.

Human and animal studies performed by Biomet and AstraTech have shown that these new implant surfaces have superior quality, increased bone surface contact, and bone strength compared to non treated implant surfaces.

We offer both implant systems in addition to other implants in order to offer the best treatment alternatives for our patients. We also offer hands on treatment planning sessions which allow us to tailor a treatment plan for placement and restoration of implants that are insinc with our patient needs.