Gum Disease Treatment in Sandy Springs, GA

In most cases periodontal disease is preventable. If you don’t take preventive measures, you may lose bone and, eventually, teeth. Prevention means removing plaque bacteria from the gumline every day by brushing and cleaning between your teeth, and keeping regular examinations and professional cleanings so changes are found before they take hold. Not smoking helps, and so does telling your dental team about conditions such as diabetes that affect the gums. We put prevention first: our goal is to prevent problems before they occur.

Gingivitis shows up as gums that look red or puffy, feel tender, and bleed when you brush or clean between your teeth. Persistent bad breath is another sign, and swollen gums can look as though they are pulling away from the teeth even while the attachment underneath is intact. It is the early stage of gum disease and is often reversible: professional cleaning to remove plaque and calculus from the gumline, together with consistent daily cleaning at home, can settle the inflammation before it affects the bone.

The cost of periodontal treatment is worked out after an examination, because it depends on how far the disease has progressed and how much of the mouth it affects. Scaling and root planing in a limited area is a different scope of work from full-mouth treatment or laser therapy with the LANAP protocol, and ongoing periodontal maintenance visits are planned around your case. Dental insurance often contributes; see Insurance and Financing, or the DTLC Healthy Smile Plan, which offers a periodontal maintenance option for patients without dental insurance.

Scaling and root planing is a deep cleaning that removes excessive calculus and bacterial deposits from beneath the gumline, where a routine cleaning cannot reach. We use it to stop the spread of periodontitis: taking the deposits off the root surface lets inflamed gum tissue settle and tighten back against the tooth. It is usually followed by periodontal maintenance visits so the gumline is kept clear once treatment is done.

No. In most cases periodontal disease is preventable, but if you don’t take preventive measures you may lose bone and, eventually, teeth. Bone is lost when gum infection is left to progress, so the point of regular examinations and professional cleanings is to find and stop that process early. Once bone has been lost it does not simply grow back on its own, but treatment is aimed at halting further loss and keeping the teeth you have. When we find periodontal disease, we are ready to treat and correct it.

Yes — we offer laser gum therapy through the LANAP protocol, a laser-based treatment for gum disease that involves no cutting and no suturing. It is a patented periodontal treatment cleared by the FDA in 2004 and can only be done with the PerioLase MVP-7 laser. Whether it suits your case depends on how advanced the disease is, which is assessed at an examination alongside our other periodontal treatment options.