If your dentist has diagnosed you with gum disease, he or she will also have some treatments to recommend. Your treatment options will depend on how much the gum disease has progressed. The earlier it is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat. Treatment options can include both surgical and non-surgical treatments.

Non-Surgical Treatments

When gum disease is diagnosed in the early stages, it is usually treatable with non-surgical treatments. A proper oral hygiene program is one of these treatments, and it needs to include professional cleanings by your dentist. Another non-surgical option is scaling and root planing. This is a deeper cleaning of the teeth, and a local anesthetic is used. The dentist scrapes tartar and plaque from the teeth and under the gum line. Any rough areas on the root are planed or smoothed, which gets rid of bacteria and makes the tooth clean enough that the gums will grow back up and over them again.

Surgical Treatments

If your gum disease has progressed to a point where non-surgical treatments will help, your dentist will recommend surgical treatments. Options include:

Flap Surgery

This is also known as pocket reduction surgery. The gums are lifted and pulled back so tartar can be scraped away. Roughness on the bone is smoothed so there are no pockets for bacteria to hide in. Then, the gums are put back into place so that the tooth has a tight fit, and less bacteria can get beneath the gums.

Bone Grafting

Pieces of bone, whether it be your own, donated, or synthetic, are used for replacing any bone that has been damaged by gum disease. When the bone is grafted on, there is a space for new growth, and the teeth become more stable. Some dentists also offer a new technology, tissue engineering, which helps the body to create new bones and tissue quickly.

Soft Tissue Grafting

Thin gums are reinforced, and fills are added to areas where the gums have already begun to recede. The reinforcement is done with grafts that are usually taken from the roof of your mouth.

Guided Tissue Regeneration

This is done when the bones around the teeth are too damaged for other surgical procedures to work. It helps to stimulate the growth of new bone and tissue. This surgery is done together with flap surgery, and a piece of mesh is placed between the tissue and the bone to keep them separate and allow bone to grow properly.

Bone Surgery

If there are holes in the bone due to the loss of bone from gum disease, bone reshaping is done after flap surgery. This gets rid of the holes or craters, thereby getting rid of places where bacteria can develop.

For more information, contact a specialist like Manuka Dental Care.

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