Solve Gum Problems
Introduction
Click to enlarge
Gum disease, or periodontitis, describes all stages of events that lead to loss of teeth due to failure of the bone to hold onto the tooth. Teeth loosen because your bone looses its grip. Like the rancher who is moving a fence post, he digs the earth around the base, checking the looseness by holding onto the top of the post, and rocking it back and forth. When enough dirt is removed, the post is loose and can be lifted out easily. Bone is like the dirt. Bacteria initiates the process of digging around the bone to loosen your tooth. Note the progress of bone destruction in the illustration. Over the last several years, periodontitis has been linked to heart disease and other systemic diseases. Periodontitis is the biggest cause of tooth loss. Initial treatment is deep cleaning. Click WebMD to find out more.
Gum Disease
Symptoms
If your gums bleed when brushing, you may have gum disease, or periodontitis. If you see redness of the gum area around the teeth, you have reason to worry. When the condition is advanced, teeth may be loose or may have moved in a short period of time. Bad breath is another indicator.
Description of Deep Cleaning (Scaling and Root Planing):
- Deep cleaning is removal of crusty crud, pus, and infection from the roots under the gum. (Not kidding… you may have it and don’t know it! After all, 80% of all Americans have some form of gum disease)
- Often, we squirt the bottom of the pocket with an antibiotic called Arestin. This nearly sterilizes the area for weeks to help healing. Your comfort during this procedure is our main concern.
Procedure:
- Our expert hygienist will review your home care, and offer you any tools or training you may need to do your part at home.
- The hygienist will numb your mouth using our comfortable lip shaking technique. If you are panicked about numbing, we offer nitrous oxide for relaxation. You’ll find out why it used to be called laughing gas! Or you can come in an hour early and take a couple of blue pills, feel wonderfully sleepy and dreamy, and not even remember what happened the next day!
- An ultrasonic wand goes into infected area called a “pocket” to remove the crud. A curved metal instrument will also be used to scrape it off.
- Arestin is squirted into the deepest part of the pocket with a small, blunt syringe.
Time:
An hour per 1/4 of the jaw. An hour follow up and polish visit is scheduled 6 weeks after treatment is done.
Follow up:
Once scaling and root planing is completed, you must come in for periodontal maintenance every 3-4 weeks for an extended period of time, perhaps for the rest of your life, depending on severity and your healing response.
Cost of Scaling and Root Planing:
The fee is $169 – $222 per arch depending on the number of teeth and severity. There may be additional costs for placement of antibacterial materials in the pockets.
Perio Protect
Problem: After deep cleaning, sometimes the pockets do not heal. In that case, we may refer to a specialist for surgical treatment. We have found that an excellent option to surgery is the Perio Protect TM System.
Perio Protect System Description:
Patented seals which are part of the Perio Tray help direct and maintain doctor-prescribed solutions into periodontal pockets. Patients describe the Perio Tray as comfortabe, easy to use, and convenient.
Procedure:
- Impressions are made of your upper and lower teeth and gums. From this, a laboratory fabricates your trays.
- You will return for a second visit to obtain Perio Trays, medications and get instructions on their use.
- At home or at work, you will use the trays and medications several times a day for 15 minutes.
- We’ll review with you your progress in several weeks.
- Often, a second set of trays is provided to adjust to change in the shape of the gums after healing.
- After complete healing, maintenance usage is twice a day for 10 minutes.
Time: Total treatment time can vary from 3 months to 8 months depending on severity.
Cost of Perio Protect
Depending on severity, the range is $695-$1695. Periodontal surgery can be several thousand more than this.
