Our Services - Periodontal Care and Oral Hygiene

The basis of sound dental care is routine cleaning and maintenance. We customize cleanings on the basis of your periodontal, (gums and bone), health. We utilize medicated gels along with prescription mouth rinses in problem areas if necessary. Ultrasonic scalers are sometimes used to make the procedure more comfortable and effective as well.

Periodontal treatment refers to any procedure used to repair the damage done by periodontal disease. Periodontal means "around the tooth" and when dentists talk about periodontal disease they are talking about gum disease. This is an infection of the gums caused by the build of plaque. You may have heard of plaque, and its baby brother, tartar, and your dentist or hygienist has probably educated you about it at some point in your life. Once plaque has caused gum disease it can set off a chain of events. Gum disease can cause recession of the gums and bone this leads to tooth loss. Tooth loss can cause a shifting of the teeth and create difficulty in chewing and speaking as well as....more tooth loss. In the end you can end up with tooth loss and infected gums, if gum disease is left untreated.

Periodontal treatment can be surgical and non-surgical depending on the severity of the case. Non-surgical procedures can be used when the progression of the disease is diagnosed early and treatment begins immediately. A periodontal probe is used to examine the depth of the pockets gum disease will form around the teeth. Non-surgical treatment is basically extreme oral hygiene. Scaling and root planing is the most common form of this procedure. Non-surgical methods generally tend to precede surgical procedures even if the case is seriously advanced. This is to make sure everything is clean so that the surgical procedure can reverse the damage. Crown lengthening, regenerative procedures and pocket depth reduction are certain types of surgical procedures that your dentist may use. Even if periodontal surgery is done special attention must be given to proper tooth and gum care in order to aid in the healing and prevent further need for any such procedure.

For this type of treatment we use: