At Cascadia Dental, we offer a range of periodontal services to keep your mouth healthy.
Periodontics is a branch of dentistry that focuses on areas near the tooth, such as the gums, bones and supporting ligaments. Our expert periodontists help you avoid gum disease and enjoy excellent oral health with regular treatment.
What Is Periodontal Disease?
Periodontal disease is an ongoing gum infection that affects up to nearly half of adults. The condition can result in tooth loss, surgery and an array of health problems.
We divide periodontal disease into four stages.
Stage 1: Gingivitis
This is the first stage of periodontal disease. It’s a result of plaque buildup around the teeth, but you can heal from gingivitis with proper care.
Regular checkups and consistently good oral hygiene practices can reverse this stage.
Stage 2: Slight Periodontal Disease
The second stage of periodontal disease isn’t reversible, but it’s still manageable.
Slight periodontal disease is when infection and bacteria spread to the bone and are more aggressive. You notice more gum swelling and bleeding during flossing and brushing.
Stage 3: Moderate Periodontal Disease
This stage has the same symptoms as slight periodontal disease, but the symptoms are more severe. If left untreated, it can lead to bone and tooth loss.
Bacteria can attack not only your bones but also your immune system with moderate periodontal disease. Deep cleaning helps manage and remove bacterial deposits.
Stage 4: Advanced Periodontal Disease
The final stage of periodontal disease significantly increases your risk of bone loss. Bacteria aggressively attack your teeth, gums and bone.
Advanced periodontal disease causes you to suffer severe symptoms:
- Red, swollen and bleeding gums
- Pain when chewing
- High potential for tooth or bone loss
- Receding gums
We provide key treatments to manage and treat all stages of periodontal disease.
Contact us with any questions about periodontal disease, gum disease and periodontal surgery. Schedule an appointment today.
Gingival Flap Surgery/Pocket Reduction Surgery
We offer gingival flap surgery, aka pocket reduction surgery.
During this procedure, we lift and fold back the gums at the infected area after sedation. This lets us reach the root of your tooth and bone.
We then remove the inflamed tissue. Next, we perform scaling and root planing (a type of deep cleaning) at the area to remove pockets of bacteria.
Last, we replace your gums, then stitch them back in place using dissolvable sutures. Your sutures disappear in about 10 days.
Book an appointment for gingival flap surgery or pocket reduction surgery, or contact us for more information.
Osseous Surgery
Osseous surgery is a noninvasive periodontal surgery.
During osseous surgery, we first administer sedation. We then trim infected tissue and bone to decrease the number of infected gum pockets in your mouth. This creates a cleaner, healthier environment for your healthy tissue to grow and reattach.
We usually suggest you undergo osseous surgery if an infected area doesn’t respond to deep cleaning.
Contact us with any questions about osseous surgery, or schedule an appointment today.
Bone Grafts
Bone grafting helps you heal from gum disease in important ways:
- Building new bone
- Repairing damage
- Reconstructing areas around infected teeth or extraction sites
You can visit our office for bone grafts as part of periodontal treatment. We offer four types of bone grafting. Consult with your dentist, and they’ll help you decide which works best for your oral health:
- An autograft involves using bone from your own jaw.
- An allograft uses bone from a donor.
- A xenograft uses animal bone.
- An alloplastic graft means we use a synthetic grafting material.
Book an appointment for a bone graft procedure, or contact us for more information.
Postoperative Care
What To Expect
- Swelling. This is normal following any oral surgery, including periodontal surgery. Your swelling should reach its maximum in 24 to 48 hours and lessen by the fourth day after surgery.
- Discomfort. You experience the most discomfort directly after the anesthetic wears off and feeling returns to your mouth.
- Hemorrhage. You see bleeding or oozing for the first 12 to 24 hours after surgery.
What To Avoid
- Don’t apply heat to your face. Heat increases swelling, so avoid even warm compresses.
- Don’t spit. Spitting can make bleeding worse because it dislodges blood clots, which help your mouth heal. Disturbing them can lead to bleeding, infection and pain.
- Don’t smoke. Smoking delays the healing process and introduces toxins to the fresh surgical site.
- Don’t drink from straws. In addition to avoiding straws, don’t do anything that disturbs the clotting blood in your mouth.
- Don’t exercise strenuously for the first 24 hours. Vigorous physical activity causes your blood pressure to rise. Even if your blood pressure is only a bit higher, you can bleed and hurt more.