It has been a busy beginning of 2017. We started off with the North Carolina Society of Periodontists meeting in Raleigh with Dr. Greggory Kinzer from Seattle Washington lecturing on an Interdisciplinary Approach to Managing Esthetic Dilemmas. His philosophy was delayed treatment when possible if certain paradigms were satisfied.
Let’s talk about inflammatory gum disease treatment. It really is quite simple: remove the bacteria. There are two types of bacteria that contribute to inflammatory gum disease: plaque (the live bacteria) and calculus (the dead bacteria).
The physical removal of the live bacteria is done initially by scaling and root planing. Some operators use local antibiotic therapy as a treatment addition. The additional treatment adds costs and, according to an article in the October 2016 issue of The Journal of Periodontology, has no additional benefit.
The calculus, otherwise known as tarter, needs to be physically removed. If pockets are greater than 5mm, we cannot remove it effectively with root planing . It will need to be visualized by a flap procedure to see it. Unfortunately, you can not laser calculus off the teeth and antibiotic treatment does nothing for dead bacteria. In some cases, a visually minimally invasive periodontal surgery is necessary to remove the rest of the etiology of gum disease.
Keeping periodontal therapy simple is our goal. Your periodontal health is important to us. If you have any questions please call at 919-518-8222, fill out our contact form, or email us at [email protected]
For more information on this topic, listen to the Gum Guru Podcast by clicking the link below: