Personalized Periodontics Helps Ensure a Healthy Smile for Life
If you experience bleeding, bad breath, redness, or swelling in your gums, you might have periodontal disease, commonly caused by bacteria buildup. This can progress from gingivitis to periodontitis, leading to bone loss and pockets where bacteria thrive.
Periodontal disease can also impact overall health by triggering inflammation in other body parts. ASAP Dental Care in Jacksonville, FL, provides efficient treatment options, including minimally-invasive laser surgery and sedation, to combat gum disease’s negative effects on oral and overall health.
Periodontal maintenance plays a crucial role in preventing and managing gum disease. Regular check-ups and cleanings are essential to halt the progression of this condition. Gum disease, if left untreated, can lead to serious oral health issues such as bone loss and tooth loss.
Emerging research has established a link between gum disease and systemic health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory issues. By maintaining good oral hygiene practices at home and scheduling routine visits to a dental professional, patients can take proactive steps to stop gum disease from worsening and reduce its potential impact on their oral and systemic health.
Our periodontal maintenance protocol at ASAP Dental Care in Jacksonville, FL, ensures your gum health. This process goes beyond regular teeth cleaning, focusing on addressing gum disease. We begin with scaling and root planing, a meticulous technique that removes plaque and tartar below the gumline and smooths tooth roots to prevent bacteria buildup.
During maintenance visits, we assess your gum health, with visit frequency determined by disease severity and home oral care. Unlike standard teeth cleanings every six months, periodontal maintenance visits can range from a few weeks to a few months apart. By following this tailored approach, practicing good oral hygiene, and attending routine dental checkups, you can effectively manage gum health and enjoy improved overall well-being.
During scaling, plaque and tartar are removed from your tooth surfaces with an ultrasonic scaler. A built-in irrigation process delivers an antimicrobial agent below your gumline to help reduce bacteria, especially along your tooth roots. Root planing aims to remove cementum and surface dentin embedded with microorganisms, toxins, and tartar. The last step is smoothing the tooth root surface to promote healing and help prevent the recurrence of bacteria in this area.
If you’ve been treated with antibiotics or scaling and root planing and gum disease continues progressing, osseous surgery in Jacksonville, FL, maybe the next step. After sedation and a local anesthetic have taken effect, an incision is made at your gumline, the gums are folded back, and bacteria are removed. If any exposed bone is damaged or irregularly shaped, we’ll smooth the affected areas to make them less prone to trapped bacteria. A periodontal regeneration technique is recommended to encourage new bone growth if the bone is significantly damaged. Once the area has been thoroughly cleaned, your gums are sutured back and protected with a special dressing.
This procedure is done for restorative and aesthetic purposes. When tooth damage extends below the gumline, crown lengthening enables exposure of adequate tooth structure to support a restoration. Excessive gum tissue can lead to a “gummy smile” and increase susceptibility to periodontal infections. Removing excess gum tissue helps restore balance and improve the aesthetic appearance of your smile.
A frenectomy is a simple surgical procedure often performed in babies and young children to remedy restrictive or tight frena. A lingual frenectomy, or tongue-tie surgery, removes or modifies the tissue band connecting the tongue’s underside to the mouth’s floor. A labial frenectomy removes the band of tissue that connects the upper gums to the front teeth. Labial frenectomies are used to correct lip ties and can be done on the lower lip, although far less frequently.
A gingivectomy is often required when gums have pulled away from the teeth and created deep pockets. During this procedure, loose and diseased gum tissue is removed to eliminate the pockets and provide access to remove tartar and smooth out the tooth roots. At ASAP Dental Care, our skilled dentists use a dental laser for gingivectomy because it delivers more comfortable treatment, reduces postoperative pain, and enhances rapid healing.
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