Periodontal surgery becomes necessary when tissue around your teeth has become unhealthy and at the same time irreparable with non-surgical treatments. A periodontist is the best person to diagnose the extent of your periodontal (gum) disease and guide you properly to its cure. Periodontist is a specialized dentist who can diagnose, treat, and prevent your periodontal diseases by utilizing the latest technologies and techniques of diagnosis and treatment.
Periodontal surgery can be commonly categorized into 4 types:
Regenerative Procedures
A periodontist may recommend regenerative procedures of periodontal surgery only when the bone that supports your teeth has been completely destroyed and pockets have destroyed. This procedure can help you in regenerating lost tissue and bone.
According to this procedure, a periodontist folds the gum tissue back and removes bacteria that caused the periodontal disease. In order to encourage the natural ability of your body in regenerating the lost tissue and bone, tissue stimulating proteins, bone grafts and membranes (filters) can be used.
This regenerative procedure helps in:
Reducing the pocket depth in the gum around the teeth (which was caused from the progression
of the periodontal disease) and Repairing damage
In this way, regenerative procedure of periodontal surgery can increase the chance of keeping
natural teeth intact and also decrease the health hazards that are associated with periodontal diseases.
Pocket Reduction Procedures
Ideally, gum tissue and bone should fit tightly around a tooth. If you have periodontal disease, then these supporting bone and tissues get destroyed and consequently leads to the formation of pockets around your teeth. Over the passage of time, these pockets become more and more deep. Thus, bacteria get larger space to thrive in those pockets. In case, the extent of bone loss become too much then the concerned tooth is needed to be extracted out.
A
renowned periodontist can reduce the depth of the pocket and save your tooth from further decay. Periodontist measures depth of the pocket(s) and is the right person in helping you get the cure. If the depth of the depth of the pockets have become too much then pocket reduction procedure of periodontal surgery is undertaken.
According to this periodontal surgery, a periodontist follows the following steps:
Gum tissue is folded back
Removes bacteria that caused the periodontal disease
Secures the tissue into place
In many
cases, a periodontist smoothes the irregular surface of the damaged bone to limit the hiding place of the disease causing bacteria.
This pocket reduction procedure of periodontal surgery becomes inevitable for you when the pockets have become too deep for your dental care professional and at-home oral hygiene to cure the disease. Thus, reduction of the deepness of the pockets becomes absolutely necessary to keep your natural teeth intact.
Soft Tissue Grafts
Many-a-times, our tooth roots get exposed due to gum recession and our tooth looks too long. These over-exposed teeth not only look bad but are also highly sensitive to cold liquids / foods. We can enhance the aesthetics of our smile by covering up these roots (one or more) through tissue graft procedure. In this periodontal surgery procedure, the following steps are followed:
Step 1: The periodontist identifies the factor that led to gingival recession.
Step 2: Then periodontist takes out gum tissue from any donor source or your palate and covers up the over-exposed root to look normal.
This procedure can help you in reducing further gum recession and associated bone loss. It has also been observed that soft tissue graft has helped in protecting the exposed root from decay.
Crown Lengthening
Many people have ‘gummy smile’. This happens because their teeth appear to be small in size as they are covered too much by gum tissue. ‘Gummy Smiles’ look aesthetically bad and lowers our self confidence. In order to rectify this, periodontists perform Crown Lengthening periodontal surgery. As per this procedure, excess bone tissue and gum is reshaped so that more natural tooth can be exposed.
This procedure is perfect for those people who have
decayed tooth
insufficient tooth structure
broken tooth below the gum line