What To Expect After Flap Surgery:

Flap surgery is recommended when your periodontal disease is severe and root scaling and planing is no longer an option.  Once gum recession has begun the tissue does not grow back. More aggressive surgeries may be necessary to cleanup the infection. After Flap surgery is completed you may feel some discomfort because your periodontist has to cut and pull away the gum in order to scrape the bacteria away from the roots.

Once flap surgery alone may not be enough to treat your disease. Other procedures may be necessary to restore your dental health. For example, you may need a procedure called bone grafting. Bone grafting is when bone is removed from one part of your body, sometimes the hip, and placed in the jawbone. When this procedure is completed it allows for a more stable jawbone in order for implants to be fully supported.  While bone grafting is considered a fairly simple procedure it does require a local anesthetic and bone needs to be harvested prior to the appointment.  

If you are missing teeth due to periodontal disease implants maybe the best way to restore full functionality. However, this procedure cannot be completed unless there is enough stable bone. 

After flap and bone graft surgery you may experience some discomfort, swelling and bleeding. It may also take awhile for the bone graft begins to grow. If you experience excessive discomfort or bleeding you should contact Dr. Rice’s office immediately.

Flap Procedure For Periodontal Disease

This procedure used to be recommended when the “periodontal pockets” were too deep and the disease had progressed beyond gingivitis. Periodontal disease progresses when bacteria and plaque build up between the teeth and the gum line. The pocket depth increases and bacteria can begin to attack the root if not taken care of. More severe periodontal surgery methods may become necessary at this point in order to protect the teeth, gums and roots of the teeth.

Flap procedure requires your periodontist to make an incision at the gum line. Once the incision is made they will pull back the gum and scrape out the area that is infected. Once the area is cleaned out they will put the gum back, suture the area and apply a dressing to protect the area. This procedure takes a significant amount of time and can be somewhat uncomfortable afterwards. The amount of time that it will take to complete this procedure depends on how many infected areas you have. This procedure allows the periodontist to have direct contact with the roots of the teeth and below the gum line.

A topical agent may be used by in order to clean up the area and to prevent further infection. It will be placed directly on the inside of the gum before the gum is sutured back in place. Once the procedure is completed you may experience some discomfort, swelling and bleeding.

Periodontist Dr. Rice and her team recommend LANAP surgery instead of this type of surgery because it is not as painful, the recovery time is less and there are no sutures required.