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Dentistry is a rapidly changing profession where advanced techniques and technology have allowed us to provide the very best care for our patients. However, even with all of this improvement, periodontal disease (gum disease) is still the #1 cause of tooth loss in adults today. Our life expectancy today is nearly 80 years old. Twenty to thirty years ago, it was not uncommon to be an adult and be missing all of your teeth. Today studies have shown that less than4% of adults are missing all of their teeth.
With our patients living longer and maintaining most of their teeth, this makes it important for dentists to help make their patients aware of the importance of avoiding developing periodontal disease. Statistics show that over 75% of adults have some form of periodontal disease. More importantly over 50% of adults are unaware that they even have it. Periodontal disease normally doesn’t cause pain, unless patients have developed an abcess. However, many adults believe that “bleeding gums” is normal. Think about it, you would obviously be concerned if you had a swollen, infected area on a part of your body that bled every time you washed it. This is what happens to many people when they brush or floss their teeth.
One misunderstanding about periodontal disease is that it only develops in patients that are not diligent with their home care. Over 30% of adults are genetically susceptible to developing periodontal disease. An analogy would be the person who works out regularly and is in good shape, but still has heart disease and is at higher risk for a coronary problems.
As part of our comprehensive exam at Drs. Chin & Pharar Dentistry, we do a thorough periodontal evaluation on all of our patients regularly. We believe in order to provide long lasting and successful dental restorations, we must first work together with our patients to achieve periodontal health. You would never want to build a house on an unstable foundation; your gums are the foundation for your fillings and crowns. We are also now aware of the health problems associated with patients who have periodontal disease. They are at a greater risk for:
- dangerous bacterial infection
- heart disease
- stroke
- low birth weight for pregnant patients
We want to provide the very latest in treatment when addressing periodontal disease for our patients. In addition to many other advanced techniques and materials we use the Odyssey Navigator Soft Tissue Diode Laser during our periodontal therapy visits.
Benefits of using a laser:
- faster healing
- less bleeding
- minimal post-op discomfort
- reduced chair time
- reduced chance of infection
We have had great success using the laser to help our patients to improve their periodontal status. Remember that not all dental offices provide the laser therapy as part of their periodontal treatment. We want to provide the best for you at Drs. Chin & Pharar Dentistry. So if you feel that we can help you determine if you have periodontal disease or want to discuss if our periodontal therapy would help your problem with your gums, give us a call or e-mail us today!