General Dentist in Shepherdsville, Louisville, Mount Washington, Radcliff, Elizabethtown, and Lebanon Junction treating gum disease loose teeth bleeding gums with a laser

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Gum disease causes loose teeth, bleeding gums, bite changes, sore teeth and gums

Common Questions

Question 1

My dentist has a laser and says they can do the same thing, why would I need to come to your office?

Answer-

Unfortunately, many dentists have been told by laser sales people that other lasers can do the same thing as the Periolase. Only a dentist who has received specific LANAP training can perform LANAP. If someone tells you they can do the same thing, ask when and where they received their training in LANAP. If they say they use another technique, you need to find out what the research says about the specific protocol they use. (most will say, "What research?")

More-

For those that like to hear a more technical description of what the LANAP procedure is used for, here it is.

"cementum-mediated new periodontal ligament attachment to the root surface in the absence of long junctional epithelium"

That may not mean much to anyone but a dentist, but basically, it means it helps your body do what it currently can't, but would love to do.

Question 2

What will this treatment do for me?

Answer

First it gives you the chance to treat the your gum disease much earlier than most dentists would subject their patients to the traditional surgery. Many dentists will typically wait until their patient has a SEVERE case of periodontitis before they suggest surgery.
Second, it helps relieve the inflammation that often times you don't even realize is present. Inflammation is associated with numerous health conditions that some many suffer from. These include Heart Disease and Stroke, peripheral arterial disease, Diabetes, Pancreatic Cancer, Low Birth Weight Babies and many others

Common Questions

Question 1

My dentist has a laser and says they can do the same thing, why would I need to come to your office?

Answer-

Unfortunately, many dentists have been told by laser sales people that other lasers can do the same thing as the Periolase. Only a dentist who has received specific LANAP training can perform LANAP. If someone tells you they can do the same thing, ask when and where they received their training in LANAP. If they say they use another technique, you need to find out what the research says about the specific protocol they use. (most will say, "What research?")

More-

For those that like to hear a more technical description of what the LANAP procedure is used for, here it is.

"cementum-mediated new periodontal ligament attachment to the root surface in the absence of long junctional epithelium"

That may not mean much to anyone but a dentist, but basically, it means it helps your body do what it currently can't, but would love to do.

Question 2

What will this treatment do for me?

Answer

First it gives you the chance to treat the your gum disease much earlier than most dentists would subject their patients to the traditional surgery. Many dentists will typically wait until their patient has a SEVERE case of periodontitis before they suggest surgery.
Second, it helps relieve the inflammation that often times you don't even realize is present. Inflammation is associated with numerous health conditions that some many suffer from. These include Heart Disease and Stroke, peripheral arterial disease, Diabetes, Pancreatic Cancer, Low Birth Weight Babies and many others

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Wheeler Family Dentistry, PLLC. All rights reserved

Gum Disease

What is it?

There are two categories of gum disease

Gingivitis
Periodontitis

To determine the health of your gums, I consider a number of factors. How deep the pockets around your teeth are, is there any bleeding or infection coming from the pockets, your family and health history, whether or not you smoke, when was the last cleaning you had, how much tartar has built up on your teeth, findings on x-rays, and if any teeth are loose.

In Gingivitis, you will find that your gums bleed or are tender. In my office, almost always the patient will tell me they do not floss regularly, and that when they do, they bleed and hurt, so they quit. Unfortunately, this is actually a sign they need to floss more, as in daily. Gingivitis is reversible. If you can catch the process now, great! You will probably need to get a good cleaning with us, and then I can show you the correct way to floss and care for your teeth at home. Your home care is by far the most important part of beating the infection. Unless you want to pay me to clean your teeth each day, talk about a lot of trouble, you need to floss, brush daily. Most people will also benefit from rinsing daily with a product designed to fight gum disease.

What I typically see when a patient has Gingivitis

Probing depths	Typically 3mm or less, depending on inflammation levels
What I find in pockets	Bleeding, sometimes a LOT of bleeding, often tartar
X-Ray findings	No bone loss, dense bone at surface
Home Care	Little to none, poor technique since no one has taught them how to do it correctly in the past. I will take care of that!
Age of patient	In my practice, usually younger patients in severe cases. Mild cases in older patients. If someone goes too long with a severe case, usually it progresses to Periodontitis.
How loose are teeth	Firm, little to no movement

Now for Periodontitis. Periodontitis is much worse in the long run. It is not reversible. Once you have it, you will always have it. Wait a minute....don't give up on yourself. Just because you have it doesn't mean you can't get control of it. While it is true their are rare cases that are so aggressive, nothing seems to help, the vast majority of patients have treatment options that will benefit them and can help them keep their teeth. The key is getting treated. In my practice I have found that people with advanced Periodontitis are often embarrassed by their condition and many have even been humiliated by a dentist in the past because of the shape their mouth is in. You do not, I repeat, DO NOT have to worry about that in my office. The fact that you are sitting in that chair with a desire to take care of the situation you are in is all that matters to me. While it is true that you must ultimately accept responsibility for your condition, I do not make a judgments on what kind of person you are by the current condition of you mouth.

Back to the disease condition...Periodontitis typically has a more pronounced appearance in a patients mouth. Severe cases are very easy to spot. Incredible amounts of tartar, bleeding around teeth, puss around teeth, loose teeth, sore teeth, shifting teeth and likely teeth lost in the past to it. But that is not always the case.

Here is a picture of one of my patients. Just looking at their teeth and gums you would probably never think anything was really wrong, until you see how much bone is lost on the x-rays.

This just goes to show that no matter how healthy you think you are, if your dentist is not checking your gums and telling you the diagnosis, you might want to get another opinion. This disease is not confined to your mouth. Think about the fact that your blood flows through the tissues and induces your body to try and fight it off. There is a limited amount of energy and resources present in an otherwise health person to fight off disease and infection. Why would you want to stress your body with this, when there are ways to keep it under control? It is even worse when you have diabetes or an autoimmune disease.

Probing depths	4mm to 12+mm. I have probed teeth that had NO bone around them, very advanced.
What I find in pockets	Bleeding, Tartar, Puss- Less bleeding in Smokers, but this is bad since it is demonstrating the decreased circulation of blood from dealing with the toxins in the smoke.
X-Ray findings	Slight to devastating amounts of bone loss
Home Care	Little to none, but some try hard, they just have not been taught correctly, or are trying to do it without professional cleanings. You must get cleanings, likely every 3 months at the office. I can keep things up for you if you are doing your part at home.
Age of patient	There are cases of young people having it, but the typical patient is 30 or over, and more likely as you get older.
How loose are teeth	Slight to barely still holding on

What can you do to take care of the periodontitis

Like I said before, there is no cure.

There are ways to minimize its future effect on you.

Here are some options for treatment.

Treatment	Plus	Minus
No Treatment	Cheap	No good can come out of it
Deep Cleanings	Least expensive of treatments, you are doing something, good for mildest cases.	You don't get a good seal around the tooth when you heal, so its easier to get back where you started. Typically ride a roller coaster, get a little better, get worse, get a little better, get worse, etc, must keep regular maintenance.
Osseous Surgery	Reduces pocket depths, can graft bone in at same time.	Not cheap, typically in addition to deep cleanings. Still poor seal around tooth, amputation of good and bad tissues, must have stitches placed, grafting adds more cost, statistically poor acceptance by patients, must keep regular maintenance.
LANAP	No need for additional deep cleaning fee, regeneration not amputation, doesn't remove healthy tissue, no bone grafting, strong tooth to gum seal, good long term success rate, no stitches needed	Costs more than deep cleanings, like the others, not a one time fix, need to keep up with regular recare maintenance.