For a typical prophylaxis (regular cleaning) patients will get their teeth cleaned every 6 months on average, and exhibit the following characteristics:
- Good home-care habits that include regular flossing
- Healthy gums that don’t bleed
- Pockets under 4mm
Treatment Options for Treating Periodontal Disease
- Scaling and Root Planing (i.e. deep cleaning). This non-surgical procedure is designed to remove bacteria, calculus (tartar), and their accompanying toxins from below the gum line. Typically local anesthesia is used for patient comfort.
- Sometimes laser treatment may be used to detoxify and kill bacteria deep in the pockets. This is done with a local anesthetic and has no post-operative pain associated with it.
- Gum surgery. This procedure includes flapping the gums back, removing and re-shaping the bone, bone grafting, and tissue regeneration.
As dental care providers, one of our roles is to educate our patients about their dental conditions, but the difficulty is that some conditions such as gum disease have little to no obvious signs or symptoms that the patient can recognize. Don’t wait until you have symptoms because by then it is often too late.
About the Author: Dr. Anthony Dailley is a practicing general dentist in Berkeley California. He has been practicing since 1981 and graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in Cell & Molecular Biology, and obtained his dental degree from the Pacific School of Dentistry. Dr. Dailley also holds a fellowship position with the International Congress of Oral Implantologist (ICOI). Dr. Dailley has also been a founder in a biotech company called NovaBay Pharmaceuticals and was a member of their board of directors from 1997-2014.