Non-surgical Periodontal Therapy

Treatment Types for Periodontal Disease

There are two ways to treat periodontal disease- nonsurgical and surgical. Surgical procedures are done when the disease process has further advanced to need a periodontal specialist. Generally, these periodontal specialists are referred by the general dentist. Regular home care by the patient, in addition to professional removal of subgingival plaque, is generally very effective in controlling most inflammatory periodontal diseases.

What Causes Periodontal Diseases Recur?

When disease does recur, despite frequent recall, it can usually be attributed to a lack of sufficient supragingival and subgingival plaque control, or to other risk factors that influence host response, such as diabetes or smoking. Factors which can cause the periodontal disease to be recurrent, include deep inaccessible pockets, overhangs, poor crown margins and plaque-retentive calculus.

• Lack of Plaque Control (Supragingival/Subgingival)

• Diabetes

• Smoking

• Deep Inaccessible Pockets

• Overhangs

• Poor Crown Margins

• Plaque-Retentive Calculus

How to Stop Periodontal Diseases

In most cases, simply performing a thorough periodontal debridement under local anesthesia will stop the disease progression, and result in improvement in the clinical signs and symptoms of active disease.

• Periodontal Debridement

• Pharmacotherapeutic Therapies

If however, clinical signs of disease activity persist following thorough mechanical therapy, such as increased pocket depths, loss of attachment and bleeding on probing, other pharmacotherapeutic therapies should be considered.

Augmenting scaling and root planing or maintenance visits with adjunctive chemotherapeutic agents for controlling plaque and gingivitis could be as simple as placing the patient on an antimicrobial mouth rinse and/or toothpaste with agents such as fluorides, chlorhexidine or triclosan, to name a few.

Since supragingival plaque reappears within hours or days after its removal, it is important that patients have access to effective alternative chemotherapeutic products that could help them achieve adequate supragingival plaque control.

Daily home care and frequent recall are still paramount for long-term success. Nonsurgical therapy remains the cornerstone of periodontal treatment. Attention to detail, patient compliance and proper selection of adjunctive antimicrobial agents for sustained plaque control are important elements in achieving successful long-term results. Frequent re-evaluation and careful monitoring allows the practitioner the opportunity to intervene early in the disease state, to reverse or arrest the progression of periodontal disease with meticulous nonsurgical anti-infective therapy.