Options for Non-Surgical Periodontal Treatment

Periodontal treatment is most frequently associated with gum disease, and this leads many people to believe that a periodontal treatment will involve some kind of oral surgery. It is true that many of the periodontal treatments that offered involve some level of oral surgery. This is because depending on how deep the gum disease has penetrated, we may have to perform surgery to help save the gums, the teeth, or even the jaw bone from being affected. However, there are a number of periodontal treatments that are not surgical.

Visit Our Office Regularly for Preventative Care

One of the many advantages of making it a habit to visit our office a minimum of once every 6 months, is that we will be able to easily identify the early onset of gum disease. Gum disease, like many other diseases, is best caught in its early stages when we can deal with it effectively without having to perform procedures that are extremely intrusive.

Periodontitis is a severe form of gum disease that, believe it or not, most often begins with untreated plaque and tartar build-up. Frequent cleanings can help to prevent the buildup of plaque and tartar, and reduce your risk of periodontitis.

However, it is important to note that sometimes despite the best care you may end up developing gum disease anyway. The good news, for you, is that if you are visiting our office on a schedule, if you do develop minor gum disease we will be able to diagnose it and complete a periodontal treatment, which will be far easier than have the gum disease progressed into its mature stages.

Treating Gum Disease

When a person comes to us for a periodontal treatment with a minor case of gum disease, there are two specific procedures that we can perform. The first is known as dental scaling, and the second is known as root planing.  Dental scaling is the process of using manual handheld instruments and ultrasonic instruments in tandem to remove the excess tartar, plaque, and biofilm of bacteria from the tooth surface and underneath the gum line.  The first step of the process is to use the ultrasonic instrument to make the tartar and plaque loose, which in turn dislodges and removes the larger pieces. Once we have removed all of the larger pieces, we will use the handheld tools to get in deeper, especially under the gum line, so that we can remove all of these conditions that are leading to your gum disease.  Root planing is a detailed scaling of the root surface, which helps to decrease any inflammation that may be occurring in the gum tissue. We will scale the root surface to smooth out any rough areas, specifically targeting them, so that we can eliminate any plaque and biofilm that has developed on the root.

Using these two common, and non-surgical, procedures of periodontal treatment we can actually help to reverse the gum disease so that your gums can return to good health.