Scaling & Gum Surgery

Scaling & Root Planing

Scaling and root planing is one of the most effective ways to treat gum disease before it becomes severe. This “deep cleaning” is a non-surgical procedure for meticulously removing plaque and hard tartar deposits from around, below and under the gum line down to the bottom of the pocket. In addition, the root surfaces of your teeth are cleaned and smoothed to decontaminate your deep gum pockets so gum tissue can more firmly reattach to clean roots to prevent tooth loss and sensitivity problems..

It is a method of treating gum disease when pockets formed around teeth have a measurement of greater than 5mm.Scaling and root planing is much deeper than a standard teeth cleaning and is very often performed by the periodontist or dental hygienist. It is generally performed with local anesthesia and, in most cases, one hour of treatment time is required to complete one quarter (quadrant) of the mouth.

Approximately four to six weeks after scaling and root planing are completed, dentist will re-evaluate your gingival condition to see how well the disease has responded to the initial phase of periodontal treatment. Your individual healing capabilities, personal home care and the initial severity of your disease will determine whether or not there is a need for further treatment

Periodontal Flap Surgery

Periodontal flap surgery describes the state of-the-art techniques and most commonly used approach to the surgical treatment and plastic surgical repair of periodontal pockets. “Pocketing” is the end result of inflammation and infection that causes the loss of tissue attachment to the teeth, one common consequence of periodontal (gum) disease.

Treatment is based on an understanding of the disease process, the interaction between the bacterial biofilm or plaque collections at the gum line and the immune (resistance) system in a person susceptible to (likely to get) this disease. The long-term goal of periodontal surgery is to help increase the life expectancy of the teeth.

It is not a cure, but rather creates an environment that makes it easier to maintain health. Treatment is therefore aimed at controlling the basic cause — the bacterial biofilm — over a lifetime. Home care and regular periodontal recall cleanings and monitoring are necessary to ensure success.

Periodontal Surgery Need

The purpose of periodontal surgery is to treat deformities and tissue loss created by the disease process, eliminating “pockets” of diseased tissue in order to create and maintain periodontal health. Techniques have been developed to deal with the gingival (gum) tissues and underlying bone. The objectives of periodontal flap surgery are to:

• Eliminate or reduce pockets
• Regenerate periodontal tissues and their (re)-attachment to the teeth
• Create more normal periodontal form, function, and asethetics

Flap Surgery

Current surgical flap techniques are based on a sound understanding of wound healing and are therefore designed to enhance and maximize the body’s healing potential. Flap surgery is the most conservative and versatile way to treat periodontal pocketing. An internal surgical opening is used to access the affected gum tissues to create and raise a “flap” of gum tissue, similar to opening the flap of an envelope, aimed at the conservation of all healthy tissue. This approach

• Removal of inner diseased tissue lining the pockets.
• Access to treat and clean root surfaces completely
• Regeneration of lost bone and periodontal ligament
• Intimate closure of healthy tissues leaving no open wounds for rapid and comfortable healing.

Crown Lenthening

If you have a “gummy” smile because your teeth appear too short and you show too much gum when you smile or that your gum line is uneven, crown lengthening can be performed to solve your problem and expose more of your natural tooth. You simply may have too much gum tissue covering your teeth and hiding your smile.

This procedure can sculpt your gum line by removing excess gum tissue and giving you the proper contour of your gums and teeth with just the right length. Many times this is all that needs to be done, but if restorations are needed, this procedure sets the stage for allowing your new crowns to have the correct length and shape giving you a beautiful new smile. In addition, if a tooth is decayed or broken off under the gumline, it is often impossible to restore without exposing tooth structure; therefore, crown lengthening is necessary.