Laser Gum Surgery & Gum Disease
In recent years, laser gum surgery has grown in frequency, popularity, and efficiency for treating moderate to severe gum disease. A laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.
Your dental team may recommend laser surgery as an additional step after a traditional scaling and root planing treatment. Or they could recommend laser gum surgery instead of non-laser surgeries, like gum flap surgery. Laser gum surgery is also used successfully for other dental treatments. These procedures include gum contouring to address a gummy smile for cosmetic reasons.
There is one evaluation we might all fear, and that is being informed by your dentist that the final option to resolve your receding teeth and gums is to have complete extractions and be replaced with dentures. This is life-changing and not something that anyone plans for.
There are now several treatments for improving the negative effects of gum recession, which, as of just recently, also includes a new technique called the pinhole surgical technique.
How Does Laser Gum Surgery Work?
Dental lasers use powerful, specific, pinpointed light beams of thermal energy that accomplish multiple tasks during gum surgery. Lasers will:
- Both cut and remove all infected and diseased tissue.
- Kill and eliminate all damaging germs and bacteria.
- Coagulate blood vessels to create and form blood clots to deliver stem cells for rapid healing.
- Sterilize the entire damaged area.
Lasers work by generating an energy change within the atoms. The laser light shifts those atoms from their current state of rest to a level called the excited state. This results in atoms creating energy called spontaneous emission.
When the atoms return to their resting state, they release particles of light called photons. This process provides the energy necessary to perform certain functions, like cutting tissue without the use of a blade.
Procedure for Laser Gum Surgery
Laser gum surgery is a new technological approach to address gum disease. Here is what you might expect for your laser gum surgery:
Your dentist positions the tiny fiber optic tip of the laser at the top of the periodontal pocket around the tooth. The laser is about the size of three human hairs.
- The laser uses precise pinpointed light to remove diseased gum tissue from around the pocket. The laser is strictly designed to identify and remove diseased tissue only. It will not remove or damage healthy gum tissue. The laser also removes disease-causing bacteria from the periodontal pocket.
- When the pocket is clear of damaged tissue and bacteria, the laser is set aside for a moment.
- Your dentist may now use an ultrasonic cleaning tool to remove any tartar and calcifications with sound waves.
- The laser is then returned into the pocket to finalize deep cleaning and eliminate all remaining debris.
The laser also sterilizes tissue and bone and stimulates the formation of blood clots. The blood clots will accelerate healing and help healthy gum tissue reattach to the tooth. This eliminates the need for any sutures.
A local anesthetic can sometimes be used, and it usually takes about one hour to complete the process. The treatment will not involve any pain, just a slight feeling of discomfort.
Related Article: Laser Gum Surgery Recovery