Gum DiseaseHow is Periodontal Disease Treated?

Periodontal disease is a bacterial infection that gets under the gums and into the bone around your teeth, causing inflammation. Periodontal inflammation leads to tooth loss and may contribute to other medical conditions. Once a patient is diagnosed with gum (periodontal) disease, more involved procedures are required to treat the disease. In the early stages of gum disease, most treatment involves non-surgical procedures; however, in more advanced stages, surgical procedures are often required. The following are detailed descriptions of these procedures.

Scaling and Root Planing

Scaling and root planing: While a regular dental cleaning is for the visible portion of teeth, scaling and root planing is a special cleaning that removes plaque and tartar (also known as calculus) from under the gumline (in periodontal pockets) and smoothes the root surfaces to promote healing. A scaling procedure is the only way to remove calculus from this area. For many patients, this procedure is done under local anesthesia and is quite different from the routine dental cleaning.

In some cases, antibiotics or antimicrobials may be used to supplement the effects of scaling and root planing. In most cases of early gum disease, scaling and root planing in addition to continued daily cleaning at home will achieve a satisfactory result of reversing gum disease.

Lower Level Infection Removal

If your infection has spread into the bone that supports your teeth, and is below the level that can be reached in “Upper Level Infection Removal", then a surgical procedure must be performed to retract the gums and remove the lower level infection.

When periodontal disease reaches this lower level, it dissolves the bone around the teeth and can lead to bone loss. Once the infection has been removed, we repair the damaged area with a procedure called Bone Grafting.