Periodontal Surgery

If you're diagnosed with periodontal disease, your periodontist may recommend periodontal surgery. Periodontal surgery is necessary when your periodontist determines that the tissue around your teeth is unhealthy and cannot be repaired with non-surgical treatment. Following are the four types of surgical treatments most commonly prescribed:

Pocket Depth Reduction

When supporting tissue and bone is destroyed, "pockets" form around the teeth.

Your bone and gum tissue should fit snugly around your teeth like a turtleneck around your neck. When you have periodontal disease, this supporting tissue and bone is destroyed, forming "pockets" around the teeth.

Over time, these pockets become deeper, providing a larger space for bacteria to live. As bacteria develop around the teeth, they can accumulate and advance under the gum tissue. These deep pockets collect even more bacteria, resulting in further bone and tissue loss. Eventually, if too much bone is lost, the teeth will need to be extracted.

Periodontal

This patient was not happy with her gummy smile. The gum tissues covered up too much of the teeth, which caused the teeth to look short.

A crown lengthening procedure was performed, which evened the height of the gum tissue across the front teeth. The result was dramatic and the patient was quite pleased.