What is Periodontal Initial Therapy?

Periodontal Initial Therapy is what many offices refer to as nonsurgical periodontal therapy. Initial therapy is the treatment that a periodontal office or family dental office undertakes to halt the progression of gum disease. It usually involves a dental cleaning that has been tailored to your specific needs. This can often be referred to as a deep cleaning, but more accurately is called scaling and root planing. This cleaning uses a local anesthetic to allow a dental hygienist to go deep below your gums and remove the disease causing bacteria and the plaque and tartar accumulations that are causing bone loss in your mouth. While the cleaning is often emphasized during initial therapy, the treatment can involve other modalities aimed at controlling disease, like permanent or temporary restorations, emergency root canals, removal of hopeless teeth, treatment of oral lesions (sores)and elimination of destructive habits like smoking, smokeless tobacco use, excessive intake of sodas, and reduction of sweets. The goal of initial therapy is to halt the progression of dental disease so that treatment can move into the reconstructive phase where damaged teeth can be restored with crowns or missing teeth can be replaced with bridges, dental implants or removable appliances.

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