If LANAP is so great, why isn’t everyone using it?

“While the results of LANAP’s success continues to improve patient oral care significantly,” says, Dr. Denine Rice of Riverside Periodontics and Implant Surgery, there are still periodontists that hold onto the old way of doing dentistry. Also some  patients may be hesitant to try new procedures.  The cost of LANAP, while it may seem high at first, requires usually one surgery session.  While traditional periodontal surgery may require multiple visits.

Not everyone is qualified to provide LANAP surgery. Like any new dental technique individuals and dentists need to be trained on how to correctly use the lasers. Not all periodontists are willing to pay for the training that is required for staff and themselves to become experts in this area.

           

Equipment for the surgery is an investment. The LANAP system uses a tiny fiber that is about three hairs thick. This fiber is inserted between the gum and the tooth in order to clean out the infection. This has to be replaced with each patient as it is inserted below the gum line. While other periodontists in the field already have the required instruments for traditional surgery and those. Tools used in the traditional procedure are able to go in the autoclave to be cleaned.

Years of success have contributed to periodontists suggesting there is no reason to change. While periodontists have been using traditional methods for years, Dr. Rice and her team feel in order for patient’s needs to come first, new technology that enters the scene must be evaluated and when change is an improvement, change must occur. The FDA has approved the LANAP Laser Protocol and while Dr. Rice agrees the traditional method of surgery was the best system available, she believes that LANAP laser surgery offers higher success rates, less pain and shorter recovery time. Dr. DenineRice feels patient’s needs should always come first and the method with the higher success rate is the one Rice Periodontics and Implant surgery will be offering.