Periodontitis (per-e-o-don-TIE-tis), also called gum disease, is a serious gum infection that damages the soft tissue and, without treatment, can destroy the bone that supports your teeth. Periodontitis can cause teeth to loosen or lead to tooth loss. Periodontitis is common but largely preventable.

So periodontists basically deals to treat or restore gum disease; any damage that's happened to the gum and the bone. That can include some gum grafting, it can include restoring the bite, reducing the inflammation, basically just getting a sound solid foundation to support your teeth upon which your dental health can proceed.

                            

A couple of tools that we use: one would be a cold laser that we use in our care to reduce the bacterial levels. We use this with deep cleaning to help keep the condition under control. Another tool would be magnification, either with a microscope or with some dental loupes glasses. And this allows us to magnify the site that we're treating to better detect and to have a more conservative surgical approach.

Presenter: Dr. Dino Georgas, Periodontist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Periodontist

Well, ridge preservation would involve maintaining the site where the tooth is removed or lost, so we don't, in fact, lose any gum or bone. So if a patient has a tooth that's extracted or is traumatized and it has to be removed, we can plan at the same procedure to actually help build up the bone and help the gum heal, so that down the road when we place the implant, we've got an ideal situation that aesthetically will look good.

And, we've ensured that the bone and the gum haven't shrunk away from the site so that the dentist can do a crown that will look natural, and the patient can function on it comfortably.

The best option is to speak to your restorative dentist, and they can determine what options are available to you and from there, they can do the referral to the appropriate sources to decide if an implant or a bridge or a bone graft is necessary. And once you gather the information, you can decide at your own pace what would be the best option for you.

Presenter: Dr. Dino Georgas, Periodontist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Periodontist