Treating this condition [gum "disease", (gingivitis, periodontitis)] is as simple as this:
1) Remove the tartar from the root of the tooth
2) Prevent the tartar from reforming on the root of the tooth. I quickly learned that it's much easier said, than done! When I started in private practice in 1995, I did exactly what I was taught in dental school... If a patient has pocketing and bleeding, you
perform 4 quadrants of scaling and root planing (the deep cleaning) and then bring them back a month later to evaluate the results. If the results are good, you put the patient on a 3-month or 4-month continuing care (periodontal maintenance) plan. If the results are not good, you refer to a periodontist for surgical pocket reduction (flap surgery). This was considered to be the standard of care at the time and not much has changed since then. Unfortunately, scaling and root planing (SRP) is not very effective for generalized deep pockets (6 mm and above), so a large number of my patients had to be referred for surgical pocket reduction... and they didn't like that. Around 1997 or 98, I became one of the first 4 dentists in the world licensed to perform LANAP, which is the only patented procedure in the history of dentistry. LANAP utilizes a laser in lieu of a scalpel and stitches to reduce the pockets micro-surgically. Because it's less invasive, it's less traumatic to the surrounding tissues. Because it's less traumatic to the surrounding tissues, there's little-to-no swelling. Because there's little-to-no swelling, there's little-to-no pain. (Swelling can cause post-operative pain). Because of all of the aforementioned, people prefer to have the laser for surgical pocket reduction instead of the traditional method of using a scalpel and stitches. However; while the laser is highly-preferred to the traditional methods, the results are too unpredictable for my liking. Some patients would obtain amazing results, while other patients would obtain horrible results and still others would obtain mediocre results. As a perfectionist, I was frustrated because I want EVERYONE'S results to be amazing. In my mind, I must have been doing something wrong. In reality, the only variable to the problem was that I had a different patient in the chair for each procedure. I was always repeating the exact same process on each patient, but the patients weren't repeating the exact same process at home. Put simply, the patients who obtained amazing results are the patients who practiced amazing home care. The patients who obtained horrible results are the patients who practiced horrible home care, and probably had a horrible attitude to go along with the horrible home care. The patients who obtained mediocre results are the patients who practiced mediocre home care. I don't fault the patients, though. They're just trying to do what they've been taught their whole lives... brush after every meal and floss twice a day. Some did a little more, while some did a little less. Unfortunately, floss and the bristles of a toothbrush can only reach 1 to 2 mm below the gum line. It's impossible to prevent the tartar from reforming on the root of the tooth by brushing and flossing alone. In fact, we routinely tell our patients, "You no longer have to floss if you don't want to floss.", and despite not flossing, they ALL achieve amazing results now. Over the years, I have developed 5 patent-pending protocols for treating all stages of periodontal health (without the need for scalpels or sutures) that are extremely effective in removing tartar from the roots of teeth and preventing the reformation of tartar on the roots of teeth. I call it TLC 4 Gums. It utilizes far less laser energy than LANAP, which means it's even less invasive than LANAP, and because of that... patients experience even less post-operative discomfort than LANAP! Gives a call at (480) 661-4867 to schedule a FREE consultation in our Phoenix location, or (623) 455-5859 to schedule a FREE consultation in our Peoria location. You'll be glad you did!
