Periodontal Surgery
Periodontal disease is a chronic bacterial infection that affects bone and gums around teeth. Deep gum pockets can form and, if left untreated, these pockets collect more bacteria producing dental bone loss. Eventually, if too much bone is lost, the teeth need to be extracted. Periodontal, or osseous, surgery is a gum pocket reduction procedure. The infected bone and gum tissue are removed and the surrounding area where bacteria can hide is cleaned and smoothed out allowing gums to reattach to healthy bone and eliminate gum pockets. If bone and tissue loss is too severe, the diseased bone or tissue may need to be regenerated by performing advanced bone and tissue regeneration.
During osseous surgery, the calculus(calcified deposits on the teeth)
is removed and the bone is recontoured to the ideal shape.
This procedure allows the gingiva to heal properly.
Osseous Surgery ( Gum Pocket Depth Reduction)
Your bone and gum tissue should fit snugly around your teeth. Periodontal disease distroys this supporting tissue and bone forming "pockets" around the teeth. These pockets become deeper over time, creating a larger space for bacteria to live. As the bacteria develops around the teeth, it can accumulate and advance under the gum tissue into deep pockets collecting even more bacteria resulting in further bone and tissue loss. Eventually, if too much bone is lost, the teeth will need to be extracted.
During the pocket depth reduction procedure, the gum tissue is folded back to remove the disease-causing bacteria before securing the tissue into place. In some cases, irregular surfaces of the damaged bone are smoothed to limit areas where disease-causing bacteria can hide. This allows the gum tissue to better reattach to healthy bone.
What are the benefits of this procedure?
Reducing pocket depth and eliminating existing bacteria are important to prevent damage caused by the progression of periodontal disease and to help you maintain a healthy smile. Eliminating bacteria alone may not be sufficient to prevent disease recurrence. Deeper pockets are more difficult for you and your dental care professional to clean, so it's important to reduce them. Reduced pockets, daily oral hygiene and professional dental maintenance care increase your chances of keeping your natural teeth and decrease the chance of serious health problems associated with periodontal disease.
Bone Grafting
Periodontal
disease dissolves parts of your jawbone which supports your teeth and gums. This bone loss can eventually
lead to the loss of your teeth. The first step of treatment is to remove
the infected tissue to halt the bone loss. Then we repair the
damage that has occurred. In many cases, various bone grafting techniques
can be used to re-grow some of the jawbone that was lost.
Procedure: We administer a local anesthetic and gently open the area, then remove the infected tissue, repair the bone damage and fill in the damaged area with bone grafting material.
Antibiotic Treatment
Some localized topical antibiotics can enhance your periodontal treatment. In certain isolated circumstances, placement of antibiotic medicine can also reduce infection. This antibiotic therapy is always done in conjunction with scaling and deep cleanings and is typically used for patients who have had previous periodontal repair therapy.
Procedure: We precisely place topical antibiotics to isolated areas to improve healing after the localized area is scaled and deep cleaned. The results are closely monitored during follow-up maintenance visits.
Crown Lengthening
Before placing a crown, your general dentist must first prepare your tooth. Sometimes there is not enough tooth structure above the gum line to accept a new crown. “Crown lengthening” provides more tooth structure for your crown. This ensures a more stable crown with less resulting gum irritation.
Procedure: Once prepared we administer a local anesthetic and gently recontour excess gum and bone tissue to expose more of your natural tooth.
If you are interested in more information about dental implants, please call us at 661.395.3115 or 877.4GUMS11 Monday thru Thursday between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. or email: sangerdds@yahoo.com to arrange a screening and diagnosis.