Many of the dental specialties have long complicated names that don’t give people any idea about what they do. Periodontics is one of those. “Perio” means “around” and “dontics” has to do with the “teeth.” A periodontist treats the structures around the teeth including gums, bone, ligaments around the teeth and the roots of the teeth. More recently implants can be thought of as the roots of the teeth. At one time, Periodontal offices focused only on the treatment of bone loss around the teeth known as “periodontal disease.” Today, the scope of treatment ranges from the placement of dental implants to replace teeth to cosmetic procedures used to improve the appearance of the gums around the teeth. Periodontists are still the experts on diagnosing and treating periodontal disease, but they also can play a role in keeping healthy gums, healthy. The first step in that treatment has always been “nonsurgical” where the teeth are cleaned very thoroughly to remove plaque and tartar so the gums can get healthy. It is really, only after the gums are healthy, that we can evaluate the true condition of the bone and determine if the damage caused by periodontal disease needs further repair. To imply that nonsurgical treatment is an alternative to comprehensive periodontal treatment, or to imply all periodontal treatment involves cutting the gums or other surgical procedures, is misleading. Once a nonsurgical treatment has been completed, a periodontist makes an assessment of how well the gums responded and what the probability is that simple cleanings will be enough to hold the improvements. If the probability is low, a periodontist will search through the options to suggest additional treatments that can improve the chances of keeping gums healthy. These options can be both surgical or nonsurgical depending on each situation. Since periodontal offices treat teeth ravished by periodontal disease on a daily basis, they also have the knowledge, tools and highly trained staff to treat healthy teeth so they don’t develop periodontal disease. While it is convenient to have all your treatment in one office, many patients find comfort in knowing that a periodontal office is watching the health of the gums and periodontal structures and a separate restorative office is keeping a close eye the condition of existing restorations and the need to place new restorations. Many patients alternate appointments between a periodontal office and a restorative office to take advantage of the expertise of both offices. If you have any questions on how periodontal and restorative offices work together or how a periodontal office could benefit your complete dental health, please contact us at any time at (425) 402-1246. 

Added on 09/08/2010

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