Patients with gum disease usually have a hard time eating food, brushing the teeth, and with many other routine activities involving the mouth. The most common gum diseases are gingivitis and periodontitis, which affect the soft gum tissues and the surrounding teeth and jawbone as well. Getting them treated at the earliest helps to restore oral health and prevents a lot of complications that could follow.
How are gum diseases treated conventionally?
When you visit the dentist to have the disease treated, a thorough diagnosis will be conducted. The dentist would remove the tartar from the teeth and roots by procedures called scaling and root planing. Next, the infected gum tissues will be cut and removed by a surgical process, which would require local anesthesia to numb the oral tissues. The wounds would be covered using sutures, and the healing period would span for a few weeks before you can resume your routine oral activities.
What is LANAP?
LANAP or Laser-Assisted New Attachment Procedure is a highly advanced alternative for conventional gum disease treatment. It doesn’t require anesthesia, surgical removal of the tissues, or sutures to cover the wounds. Here is how the procedure is carried out:
- The device consists of a fiber optic tip, which produces a highly intense beam of the laser. It will carefully be inserted in the gum pocket, i.e., between the gums and the tooth root.
- The diseased tissues lining the pocket will be instantly evaporated, and the wound underneath will be sealed. The gum pockets could house thousands of bacteria, acting as breeding grounds for them and infecting the surrounding tissues.
- The special feature of the LANAP is that it only targets the diseased tissues and leaves the adjoining healthy tissues unharmed. Next, an ultrasonic scaling tip is used to remove the hard and sticky tartar deposits from the tooth roots. The removed debris is washed away using a jet of water.
- The laser will be used to remove any remaining diseased tissues at the bottom of the gum pockets. This process also sterilizes the tissues and bone and removes the microbes completely.
- Once the tissues are removed using the laser, a clot would be formed. This helps the tissues to reattach to the roots and prevents the microbes and food residues from entering the gum pockets. This allows the gum tissues to regrow and regain optimum volume.