When people hear the term “gum disease,” they often think it means red, inflamed gums that bleed with brushing and flossing. While it’s true that gum disease starts out this way, without treatment it progresses into a serious condition that impacts your teeth, jawbone, and even your overall health. With laser dentistry, we can treat gum disease effectively and more comfortably than traditional periodontal procedures. Here’s what you need to know.
Laser Treatment for Gum Disease
The traditional treatment for gum disease is a procedure called scaling and root planing. Sometimes also known as deep cleaning, this treatment involves cleaning the teeth, the roots, and the pockets that form between the roots and the gum tissue in patients with gum disease. Then, the root is smoothed to encourage the gum to reattach, closing these pockets.
With laser treatment, a soft tissue laser is used to remove infected tissue and disinfect the pockets. An ultrasonic root cleaner removes calculus from below the gum line, then the laser is used to close the pocket by sealing the gum tissue against the root of the tooth. Because stem cells are stimulated, new connective tissues, collagen, and bone is formed to promote healing and improve your oral health.
Benefits of Laser Gum Disease Treatment
Laser gum disease treatment and scaling and root planing are both effective when it comes to reversing gum disease, but there are many benefits of laser periodontal treatment that make it come out ahead when comparing the two. Laser dentistry offers:
- Minimal pain and discomfort, often making anesthesia unnecessary
- Less bleeding and swelling
- Shorter recovery time
- Reduced damage to healthy tissue
- Lowered risk of infection
- Fewer post-operative complications
In addition, you may need fewer appointments with laser dentistry and antibiotic treatments are not typically needed, as the laser treatment itself kills the bacteria in the periodontal pockets. Most dental insurance policies offer the same amount of compensation for laser gum disease treatment as they do for traditional scaling and root planing.
Other Laser Periodontal Treatments
Our advanced soft tissue lasers are an excellent option when it comes to treating gum disease, but they can be used for a number of additional procedures relating to the gums and other soft tissues in the mouth. We use these lasers for:
- Assisting in dental implant placement
- Reshaping gum tissue, as in crown lengthening and gum contouring
- Biopsies and removal of lesions and ulcers
- Fusing tissues
- Performing frenectomies
Using soft tissue lasers in each of these procedures allows us to work with more precision and accuracy for an easier recovery, less damage to surrounding tissues, and improved comfort. The need for local anesthesia is lessened and sometimes even eliminated altogether when laser dentistry is used.
Learn More About Laser Dentistry for Gum Disease
If you have gum disease and you’d like to learn more about laser dentistry as an alternative to conventional forms of treatment, contact us today at 508-620-6622 to schedule an appointment with one of our doctors.