Periodontal surgery can help you have a healthy smile.
Periodontal disease, otherwise known as gingivitis, is a disease that affects the gums. Sometimes the symptoms of gingivitis can affect the gums so badly that surgery is required to reconstruct the gums. On other occasions, the same procedures are used cosmetically, to change the appearance of the gums and make them look more aesthetically pleasing.
Periodontal Disease
Swollen or bleeding gums, bad breath and the recession of the gums, which may cause loose teeth, are all symptoms of periodontal disease. These symptoms can become so bad that reconstructive surgery is required to treat them.
Pocket Reduction Surgery
During pocket reduction surgery, the surgeon will pull the gums back from the teeth and remove the tartar deposits that lie underneath. This eliminates the bacteria living beneath the gums and can help to prevent more severe symptoms of periodontal disease to develop. The grouping of bacteria and tar are called "pockets." Pocket reduction surgery can help your gums and teeth look healthier, but it is not usually considered a cosmetic treatment.
Regeneration
Regeneration refers to a process that tries to regenerate the bone that holds the tooth underneath the gums that has been destroyed by pockets. Again, the gums are folded back. The bacteria is removed, and then bone grafts are attached to the bone to encourage the regeneration of the bone. This reconstructive surgery is used to repair the damage caused by periodontal disease and is rarely undergone as a cosmetic procedure.
Crown Lengthening Surgery
The gums are surgically removed from the teeth to expose more of the tooth underneath during crown lengthening surgery. This is used to treat gums that have swollen so much due to periodontal disease that they are covering a large visible part of one or more teeth. Crown lengthening surgery is also undergone for cosmetic reasons to treat smiles that may be considered "gummy."
Soft Tissue Graft
The opposite of crown lengthening surgery, soft tissue graft does what it says. Soft tissue is grafted to the gums where they have receded as a result of periodontal disease, which makes the gums begin to grow over the exposed section. Receding gums can be a symptom of problems such as brushing the teeth too rigorously and so is also a cosmetic procedure, as well as repairing damage caused by periodontal disease.
Dental Implant
If you end up needing to have a tooth removed as a result of periodontal disease, you may decide to have a dental implant. This is a fake tooth that is attached to the gums.
Ridge Augmentation
Sometimes the gum can appear to indent where you have lost a tooth. This is due to the jawbone receding once it no longer holds a tooth and can make a dental implant look strange. If this occurs then a surgeon can fill the gum in during a ridge augmentation, creating the appearance of bone underneath the gum.
