Protect Your Smile with Advanced Periodontal Care in Bronx, NY
At Jason R. Gordon, DDS, we provide lasting, comprehensive oral care, beginning with the foundations. Healthy teeth depend on the underlying structure of your bones and your gums. To achieve optimal oral health, we use advanced technologies and techniques to fight and prevent gum disease.
A beautiful smile starts with professional periodontal care. Protect your smile by scheduling your appointment with us today!
CALL US: (347) 281-9444 REQUEST APPOINTMENT
Improving Your Treatment with Advanced Imaging Technology
To accurately diagnose and develop a treatment plan for periodontal disease, we first perform a comprehensive exam, which includes imaging with 3Shape® Digital Scanning. This advanced system gives us precise and thorough information in just minutes. This information, along with your health history, will provide us with a complete picture of your overall dental health.
Dr. Gordon and Dr. Iyman will explain everything in non-technical terms to ensure that you understand your personalized treatment plan and how we can take care of your gums.
How Does Gum Disease Start?
When plaque is left on the teeth, it turns into calculus (tartar), which can accumulate and travel under the gums to destroy the soft tissue, tooth roots, and bone. Once the disease has moved beneath the gum line, professional deep cleaning and maintenance is the best way to stop the progression of the condition and prevent tooth loss.
If you experience any of these symptoms, it is time for immediate periodontal care:
- Red and swollen gums
- Bleeding gums during eating or brushing routines
- Pus located along the gum line
- Receding gums
- Persistent bad breath
- Tender or painful gums
Research suggests that periodontal disease is linked to conditions such as stroke, bacterial pneumonia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and increased risk during pregnancy. Good oral hygiene, a balanced diet, not smoking, and regular dental visits will help prevent periodontal disease.
Early detection is also an essential part of successfully treating gum disease. Routine dental visits to our Bronx office will allow us to keep an eye on your oral health and provide the intervention needed to keep your smile in optimal condition.
Treatment Options for Periodontal Disease
Dr. Iyman is a highly trained periodontist who can advise you on the best type of treatment for your circumstances, as well as perform any services you need. If you are diagnosed with periodontitis, deep cleaning will remove the disease and maintenance cleanings (three to four per year) will help keep the damaged soft tissue healthy.
If you need extensive surgery, we can also perform any restorative treatments. Dental implants and other prosthetics can be used to replace lost teeth and bone, and orthodontic treatment can be done to align teeth and make them easier to care for.
Our periodontal services include:
Non-surgical treatments like scaling and root planing are more effective when the disease is caught early. More advanced forms may respond better to surgical or regenerative treatment, such as pocket reduction or bone and tissue grafting.
How is Scaling and Root Planing Done?
After using local anesthesia to numb the teeth and gums, we will use specialized tools to remove calcified tartar and plaque from your teeth and around the root structure. This scaling will include an irrigation process that can effectively deliver antimicrobial agents that will continue to help reduce oral bacteria.
Root planing is a specialized removal of plaque focused on the root of a tooth. Smoothing this area will promote optimal healing and prevent bacteria from latching on to the root surface. Removing these bacteria can prevent infections from traveling into the bloodstream and alleviate bad breath.
Surgical Options for Periodontal Treatment
Periodontal surgical treatments include techniques to repair and regenerate soft and hard tissues and replace missing teeth with dental implants. Most procedures are performed with local anesthesia and sometimes with the use of intravenous or conscious sedation. Our experienced team offers these surgical options to restore gum health:
Gum Graft Surgery: Exposed roots are covered with tissue taken from your palate, another donor, or with synthetic tissue. Covering the roots protects them from further decay, reduces sensitivity, and improve the aesthetics of your smile.
Bone Graft Surgery: Often done before dental implant placement, this is a fairly standard procedure using bone harvested from you or a bone bank and surgically placed into weak areas of the jawbone. The new cells are held in place with a mesh membrane to maintain shape, and platelet-rich growth factors or other proteins are added to promote healing.
Pocket Reduction Surgery: Small areas next to the tooth are surgically opened to remove debris and tartar. An antimicrobial agent is applied to eliminate any remaining bacteria, and the site is sutured closed. The removal of the damaged tissue and infection promotes new growth that forms a durable, healthy attachment to the tooth surface once more.
Crown Lengthening: Excess gum and bone tissue are surgically removed to reshape your gum line and expose more of the tooth surface. This improves the shape of your gum line and allows access to any decayed or broken areas that need treatment.
Periodontal Plastic Surgery: This term covers some of the other methods for improving gum health, such as ridge modification, a frenectomy, or mucogingival surgery. Any reconstructive surgery or microsurgery used to correct the form and function of your oral health can be classified as periodontal plastic surgery. The term “plastic” refers to the art of modeling or sculpting to improve aesthetics, which naturally happens through the process of promoting healthy bone, teeth, and gums.
Advanced Laser Treatment for Optimal Oral Health
The objective of surgery is generally to eliminate pockets, regenerate attachment, return normal function and aesthetics, and provide an environment more responsive to oral hygiene and maintenance care. Some of the most promising results come from studies that combine these traditional treatments with the use of LANAP (Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure). This protocol uses laser light to remove bacteria, plaque, and calculus, and also encourages new cell growth.
How LANAP Works
Lasers use light waves to transfer energy and remove bacteria, diseased tissue, and calculus from along the gumline and underneath. The light shines through the contaminated areas, much like a flashlight beam shines through the back of your hand. As it penetrates the tissue, the light identifies the infected regions and kills the harmful bacteria that cause gum disease.
The LANAP laser can also be used for pocket reduction. After the pocket has been cleaned and disinfected, the laser is gently guided over the target areas. Laser heat warms the cells, making them sticky, so they create a seal between the tissues and the tooth root. This seal protects the pocket and from being re-infected with germs and plaque and stimulates cells to reproduce. With new connective tissues, collagen, and bone, your body begins the healing process and regenerates the structures around the tooth.
This method of treatment is less painful, produces less post-op bleeding and sensitivity, and encourages faster healing. Depending on the severity of your case, one treatment may be all you need to restore your smile.
Are Lasers Better Than Traditional Treatments?
LANAP treatment is FDA-approved and designed to target specific tissues using a precisely-set wavelength through a small laser fiber inserted between the tooth and gum. We usually do the upper set of teeth in one visit and the lower at a separate appointment.
Most people can resume regular activity the next day, as opposed to the two to four-week recovery period of traditional gum surgery. Patients with diabetes and other health conditions can still have this treatment, as well as those taking certain medications that would disqualify them from conventional surgery.
Scaling and root planing, gingivectomy, and tissue grafting are viable methods of restoring gum and bone tissue to health, but LANAP can go beyond that and stimulate gum tissue to reattach to the tooth more effectively in some cases.
Does my insurance cover LANAP?
Insurance typically covers the procedure you receive, not how you receive it. Depending on your insurance coverage, laser procedures may have a similar cost to traditional treatments. Consult with our team and your insurance provider to see if you can benefit from LANAP and other laser procedures.
Periodontal Surgery Aftercare
After your procedure, it is common to have some pain for the first 24-48 hours, and discomfort or soreness at the surgery site for up to five days. Everyone’s pain level is different, so Dr. Iyman will work with you to make sure you have any prescriptions you need. If you are prescribed medication, it is essential to take it exactly as directed. Most importantly, you should rest, keep your head elevated above your heart, and leave the surgical site alone.
Our team will give you specific instructions about taking care of yourself after your procedure, along with what symptoms to expect and any diet restrictions. For most surgeries, it is an excellent idea to take it easy for at least two days and avoid strenuous activity like going to the gym or running for at least a week. As with most dental procedures, avoiding alcohol and smoking can prevent severe complications and help you heal faster. Make sure to keep your follow-up appointment to we can remove any dressing or sutures and evaluate your healing.
Vigilance Can Make the Difference
If you have periodontal disease, there is something you can do. Establish daily plaque removal through brushing and flossing as part of your oral hygiene routine; seek treatment to quit smoking and establish a regular schedule of clinical cleanings and checkups.
We want you to enjoy a beautiful, healthy smile for a lifetime, and laser treatment for periodontal disease is part of how we can achieve that goal. Our highly trained and experienced team works together to give you improved oral health through gum disease treatment and maintenance cleanings. We treat various periodontal concerns and educate you about the best way to care for your oral health. We strive to make periodontics, or gum disease treatment, a kinder, gentler process.
CALL US: (347) 281-9444 REQUEST APPOINTMENT