Periodontal Health
Learn how Newnan Periodontics and Dental Implants can treat your periodontal disease.
What is Periodontal/Peri-implant disease?
Periodontal means “around the tooth.” In the same manner, Peri-implant means “around the implant.” Periodontal/peri-implant diseases, such as gingivitis, periodontitis, peri-implantitis, and peri-implant mucositis are serious bacterial infections that destroy the attachment fibers and supporting bone that hold your teeth and implant in your mouth.
Your bone and gum tissue should fit snugly around your teeth/implant like a turtleneck around your neck. When you have periodontal/peri-implant disease, this supporting tissue and bone are destroyed, forming “pockets” around the teeth/implant.
Signs of periodontal and peri-implant diseases are:
- red or tender gums around the teeth/implants,
- or bleeding when brushing.
Often, there is no pain associated with these diseases until it has degenerated significantly, similar to hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and many other chronic inflammatory condition.
Over time, these pockets become deeper, providing a larger space for bacteria to live accumulate, and advance under the gum tissue. These pockets can result in bone and tissue loss. Eventually, if too much bone is lost, the teeth will need to be extracted.
For more information, please visit this American Board of Periodontology website.
Treatment Options
The Newnan Periodontics and Dental Implants team can provide a variety of specialized services to address periodontal/peri-implant diseases:
- Scaling and root planing
- In scaling and root planing, your provider will scale beneath the gumline to remove plaque and other bacterial toxins from periodontal pockets. Root planing allows your periodontist to smooth the tooth root to prevent future plaque or toxins from adhering.
- Laser disinfection with CO2 laser
- Nd:YAG laser
- Osseous Surgery
- During a periodontal pocket procedure, Dr. Gil folds back the gum tissue and removes 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.
- Regenerative Procedures to reverse some of the damage
- During this procedure, Dr. Gil folds back the gum tissue and removes the disease-causing bacteria. Membranes, bone grafts, or tissue-stimulating proteins (Emdogain, Advanced PRF) can be used to encourage your body’s natural ability to regenerate bone and tissue.
Want to learn more? Book a consultation today.