Periodontal Surgery is an advanced treatment usually applied for severe cases of gum disease. There are three different types of periodontal surgery.
Periodontal surgery involves several complex procedures. The three main classifications are gingival flap surgery, mucogingival surgery, and bone surgery.
1) Gum Flap Surgery
The first type of periodontal surgery is gingival flap surgery, which most patients are interested in as gingival removal surgery. Gum aesthetics reshapes the gums to improve the appearance of your smile. It includes gingivoplasty and gingivectomy. Dentists often use these procedures interchangeably because they are basically the same procedure but have different purposes.
With a gingivoplasty, we reshape the gum tissue to remove diseased soft tissue from the wall of the periodontal pocket. Gingivectomy, on the other hand, is performed to reshape the gums that have lost their normal shape. It involves removing all of the gum tissue, not just the diseased tissue. We usually perform this procedure to correct a gingival smile, remove excess tissue from overgrown gums (i.e. gingival hyperplasia), or lengthen the crown of a tooth to be restored.
2) Mucogingival Surgery
Mucogingival surgery is a more complex type of periodontal surgery. Dentists typically use this surgery for advanced periodontal gum disease, especially when exfoliated root surfaces need to be covered. We also recommend this procedure for patients with removable dentures, mainly to deepen the mouth opening and release it from displacement. The oral vestibule is the area bounded by the lips/cheeks and teeth. Frena is a small band of tissue in the lip and cheek area. A good example would be the maxillary labial frenum, located under your upper lip. Above the junction of the two upper central incisors. Increasing the oral vestibule depth will help improve retention of the removable prosthesis. Changing the place of the brake prevents the prosthesis from coming off.
Mucogingival is further divided into several techniques. These include the apically repositioned flap, the replacement flap, the laterally repositioned flap, the free gingival graft, and the frenum reposition.
3)Bone Surgery
Finally, bone surgery, like mucogingival surgery, is a form of advanced periodontal disease treatment that focuses on managing the damage caused by periodontal gum disease. As the name suggests, it involves the manipulation of bone tissue specifically reshaping or restoring its ideal form. This is based on the assumption that periodontal gum disease will resolve if the bone and gums have the same contour.
Osseous surgery also has subtypes: bone reshaping/resection procedures and bone stimulating procedures. Bone remodeling procedures include osteotomy and ostectomy and correct bone defects and create normal bone contours. The osteotomy reshapes without the need to remove the bone. On the other hand, ostectomy requires removal of some bone.
Meanwhile, bone-stimulating surgeries include bone grafts and implantation procedures. They help stimulate the body’s natural healing process to repair bone defects. They also restore the bone to its normal state.
An Alternative to Periodontal Surgery: Chao Pinhole Surgery Technique
If you only have gum recession, you have multiple periodontal surgical treatment options available to you. This technique is an alternative method for bone and tissue grafts and pocket reduction. The procedure is minimally invasive and uses a small needle to make a hole and a special tool to move the gum tissue. It provides similar results as a gingival graft, but does not need stitches, long recovery time or pain.
Schedule a consultation to find out if this alternative treatment is right for you.
Are you a Periodontal Surgery Candidate?
Not everyone needs gum surgery. Dentists usually only recommend gum surgery in case of severe periodontal disease or to improve smile aesthetics. Common reasons why patients need periodontal surgery include the following symptoms.
.Gum extraction
.Gum smile
.Swollen, bleeding or red gums
.Deep pockets between teeth and gums
.Loose teeth
.Pain when chewing
. Halitosis
Having periodontal surgery can help restore health to your gums and prevent gum disease from spreading the infection to the rest of your body. Without gum disease treatment, the disease can have detrimental health consequences to periodontal gum disease in men and women.
It can prevent tooth loss and even help you be a good candidate for dental implants to get your gums healthy again.
