WHAT IS GUM DISEASE?
Currently, nearly three out of every four Americans suffer from this debilitating disease in one stage or another--and the numbers continue to grow.
Periodontal disease typically begins with bacteria growing around the teeth, causing infection and triggering the body’s inflammatory response. The combined bacterial onslaught and inflammatory reaction ultimately result in the destruction of the gum and the bone around the teeth. Left untreated, it causes loose teeth, exposed roots, bad breath, bleeding, swelling and pain. Gum disease is a major factor in tooth loss for adults.
Sounds bad, doesn’t it? Well, it gets worse. Extensive medical studies have shown that gum disease doesn’t stop at your mouth. Infected gums provide a path for bacteria to enter the bloodstream and carry infection throughout the entire body, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Recent studies have determined that the association between heart disease and gum disease is at least as strong as the linkage of heart disease to cholesterol, body weight or smoking.
The health issues that have now been directly associated with gum disease include:
The evidence is in. When your gums become diseased, your entire body is weakened, and your overall state of health is threatened.
HOW CAN GUM DISEASE BE TREATED?
In the past, the treatment options were universally unappealing, and this may be one of the reasons periodontal disease is so rampant in America today. Treatment consisted of root planing and scaling of the teeth—and painful surgery in which the gums are cut and scraped away from the teeth. It is fear of this painful treatment that may have kept so many people with gum disease from seeking help. In recent years, however, advances in the development of laser gum therapy are bringing more and more people with gum disease back to their dentists for treatment.
LASER GUM THERAPY
Dr. VanWechel uses the Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure (LANAP) to treat gum disease. In accordance with FDA requirements, he completed all coursework with the Institute for Advanced Laser Dentistry and began providing this new technology to his patients with gum disease in 2006. LANAP and the Periolase laser procedure represent a significant (some would say revolutionary) advance in the treatment of gum disease.
The differences between older (pre-laser) gum treatment and the new LANAP procedures are indeed distinctive:
