Peak to Peak Advanced Periodontal Care
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What is periodontal care?
"Periodontal" refers to the structures supporting and surrounding the teeth, primarily the bones of our face, jaws, and gums. Thorough periodontal screenings checking on the health of our bones, teeth, gums, and other oral tissues are an important facet of dental hygiene. What causes periodontal disease? Periodontal disease is caused by certain kinds of harmful bacteria getting into the gum pockets. Bone doesn’t like the bacteria, so it disappears. The mouth is the only place in the body where bone doesn’t restore itself. This is how people with periodontal disease losing end up losing teeth. Periodontal disease resulting in bone loss of areas that support the teeth is the number one reason why people loose their teeth. Addressing periodontal health is essential! The same bacteria that causes periodontal problems can become systemically involved by getting into the blood stream, where the bacteria can attack the heart. How do we maintain healthy bone levels? Maintaining healthy bone levels is accomplished by reducing harmful bacteria. Some people are genetically more susceptible to developing periodontal disease, but oral hygiene and dental care, diet, and lifestyle are extremely important and influential factors. The bacteria responsible for creating periodontal damage is present in everyone's mouth in a greater proportion in some people and lesser in others. It affects each of us a little differently. This is again why regular teeth cleanings are so important. Most commonly, periodontal disease is related to a lack of regular dental cleanings. |
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How is an advanced periodontal treatment different from regular teeth cleaning?
In addition to the regular, thorough exam, periodontal treatment includes perio probing – checking periodontal pockets around the tooth and assessing the level of gum recession. We also check for any bleeding in the gums, which can be a sign of tissue weakness, inflammation, or disease; and we test for mobility of the teeth.
Part of periodontal treatment is oral cancer screening. We carefully examine the tissues of the mouth, lips, tongue, cheeks, gums, etc. for abnormalities. We look for swelling in lymph nodes and any sort of lumps or bumps that are not anatomically supposed to be there. Unfortunately, oral cancer is on the rise in both men and women. Environmental and lifestyle factors, like chemical exposure from food additives, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and smoking of any sort are big risk factors.
Once we've completed the exam, we perform a special deep cleaning that addresses the teeth as well as the gums. This involves the use of hand scaling tools as well as a sonic scaler. The sonic scaler vibrates at a high frequency with pressurized water to efficiently remove plaque, tartar, and stains from the teeth and the gum pockets. The sonic scaler allows for more thorough and in-depth cleaning with less scraping. The goal of this type of periodontal treatment is reduction in gingival (gum) inflammation and prevention of gum disease.
How often do I need advanced periodontal treatments?
If you have been diagnosed with periodontal disease, we recommend thorough maintenance treatments every 3-4 months to stay ahead of the problem. Depending on your dental health situation, we'll work with your dentist or periodontist to coordinate a care plan that addresses your needs.
