As periodontal, or gum, disease affects a majority of the American population, whether they know it or not, the health of your gums and supporting bone are of paramount concern to us. No aesthetic or restorative case will commence until our guest’s periodontal health is stable. Without a healthy periodontium, dental restoration is akin to building a house on sand; the foundation is simply too unstable. Enter Soft-Tissue Management (STM).
Doctors Welebir and Murray, in conjunction with our three amazing periodontal therapists, will diagnose the type of periodontal disease you may have as well as the treatment necessary to control and maintain dental health. This is a multi-faceted approach and no laughing matter. If periodontal disease, at any stage, is ignored it will progress, eventually resulting in loss of teeth. STM is our program designed to combat the factors causing, and perpetuating, our guest’s periodontal concerns.
Although there is a hereditary component to periodontal disease, among a handful of others, the majority of problems are caused by dental plaque, that soft, sticky, bacteria-filled film that constantly forms on our teeth. If inadequately removed through poor at-home hygiene practices, lack of flossing or just general laziness, this film will calcify into calculus, or tartar. And no matter how hard you brush, tartar will not come off. Once this aggressive stuff gets to, and below the gumline, it thrives in the dark, wet, warm environment that is your mouth. With bacterial proliferation comes destruction, and the ligaments anchoring teeth to bone are destroyed, with the bone soon to follow. Periodontal disease is an active, ongoing infection affecting a tissue surface area as big as the palm of your hand. And yet, as it often doesn’t cause symptoms in its early stages, is often ignored; would you ignore inflammation, bleeding and pus if your entire hand was covered with it?
STM is a systematic approach to eliminating the bacterial threat and restoring healthy gum tissue and harmony to the mouth. Through a series of appointments blending fine instrumentation to remove soft and calcified deposits, education, supplementation of tools to use at home, systemic and local antibiotics as well as adjunctive antibacterial oral rinses and other effective products, periodontal health will be restored and your mouth made pristine once again! STM carries even more importance now than just a few years back as new medical research has linked periodontal disease to higher predispositions for heart disease, diabetes and stroke. Your oral health is now a warning sign for potentially more serious medical issues; let Summerlin Dental help!
If you suspect you may suffer from some form of gum disease, regardless of how mild or advanced, please call us today. The earlier the infection is diagnosed and treated, the better your long term prognosis.
