Should I Have Laser Surgery

Time has allowed for new and improved options to support the health of your mouth. One of those valuable procedures is called LANAP laser surgery and is used by a periodontist when a patient has periodontal disease. While periodontal disease is not one hundred percent reversible, the results are very promising and it increasing the health of your mouth more than traditional root scaling and planing.

LANAP laser surgery allows for the pulses of a laser to go below the gum line and kill harmful bacteria. After your periodontal specialist will remove plaque build-up. There are no sutures required and very little bleeding. While patients may have been out of work for a few days with traditional periodontal surgery, most are returning to work the same or next day. Healing time is significantly reduced and Dr. Rice, one of Inland Empire’s top rated dentists, is seeing phenomenal results.

“Traditional periodontal surgeries required the patient to be numb in order for the periodontist to cut open their gums,” says Dr. Denine Rice. “LANAP laser surgery does not require cutting.  The surgery itself usually takes about two-one hour sessions and does not involve a numbing agent. Traditional surgery could last as long as eight to ten hours between all of the sessions.

The laser that is used has three fine hairs on the end of it. They are so small they can seamlessly fit between the gums and the tooth. You may not even know the procedure as started because they are so delicate. And while you may think the procedure sounds costly, it is actually comparable to the more traditional surgery.

Call Dr. Rice and her team today to find out more!

My Gums Are Healed. Do I Have to Keep Going to the Periodontist?

It is awesome that you visited your periodontist and completed your LANAP surgery. By now you should have noticed the healing of your gums. Your pocket depths should be decreasing and your tissue getting stronger. While this is important and fantastic you need to continue visiting your periodontist every three months for a while.

 

      Dr. Denine Rice recommends that you continue regular visits with her and her team until the presence of the disease is gone.  You may have one or more years of healing after you have had LANAP surgery. It is critical to the success of your surgery to continue to visit your periodontist as long as is recommended.  The goal is to get your gums back to a state of health, regenerate bone growth and to alternate between your Periodontist and your regular dentist for regular dental check-ups and cleanings. There is no perfect time line that this occurs and may take longer for some patients than others.

      LANAP laser surgery offers faster healing of diseased gums so that most patients can return to work the next day. With healing this quick and effective it also offers opportunities for patients to return to their general dentist for care in a faster amount of time then traditional periodontal surgery.

Should I have my teeth extracted instead of Laser surgery?

“Three out of four Americans,” according to the American Periodontal Association, “have some form of gum disease.” However, “sixty four point seven million Americans have periodontal disease that is extreme.” The gums hold the teeth in place. As bacteria attacks the gum line a deep pocket begins to develop. When you go to your dentist they conduct an exam that probes for pocket depths, the space between the gums and the teeth. A one-two or three is considered in the healthier range. But it is important that you do not have gums that bleed, as this is an initial sign of periodontal disease.

The teeth fit into the pocket of the gums like a blanket. The hold should be secure and your adult teeth should not move at all. When bacteria attack the gums however, the teeth begin to pull away from the gums. This situation is not hopeless. New Laser LANAP surgery is helping people to save their smiles. The longer you wait the more bacteria will attack the mouth and continue to increase pocket depths which causes more damage to the mouth and body.

            Once you have lost a tooth you obviously get the tooth back. Although, the upfront cost of LANAP surgery may seem more expensive than having a tooth pulled, but in the long run it may end up being more expensive.  Teeth protect the gums when chewing. If there is not a tooth there, then the gum will continue to be worn down and obtain more extreme damage. This damage could lead to more severe problems as bacteria build up in the gums; it also begins to attack other organs.

Your smile may be affected by the loss of a tooth. While your periodontal disease may have advanced to a place where saving the tooth might not be possible to save, LANAP surgery helps this process. By conducting this type of therapy peridontist Dr. Denine Rice at Rice Periodontics and Implant Surgery, and her team have seen positive results where the gums have reattached to the teeth.

Dental Surgery vs. LANAP

       

Periodontal surgery is a process where gum tissue is detached from the teeth in order to clean out the bad bacteria all the way to the root. “Pain and recovery time is generally a part of this process,” says periodontist Dr.Rice. This process usually requires multiple visits that can be up to two hours each time as each quadrant of the mouth is done separately. This procedure also requires anesthetic in order to numb the area. Root scaling may be the first step, however if the periodontal disease is more severe you may need further appointments with surgery.

Once the gum tissue is separated from the tooth, the periodontist will use an ultrasonic tool or other scraping tool in order to go below the gum line and remove bad bacteria. Then the gum is reattached using sutures. Once your surgery is done, you will be sent on your way usually with instruction to rinse until your next appointment for the next quadrant. Once all four quadrants have been cleaned out you will be set up with regular visits until your gums are considered healthy again.

“There are pros and cons to every procedure,” suggests Dr. Rice, periodontist at Rice Periodontics and Implant Surgery, “With traditional periodontal surgery there is a high rate of success and there may be a lower cost initially than LANAP. However the LANAP protocol has a high success rate as well and several other benefits, such as reduced healing time.”.

While a patient diagnosed with periodontal disease will always have periodontal disease, patients who have undergone LANAP surgery tend to have a higher rate of success and some patients have even been fortunate enough to have gum tissue reattach to the teeth,  which reduces the amount of bacteria that will enter the pockets in the future.