NON-SURGICAL PERIODONTAL TREATMENT (debridement)
After a detailed initial consultation Dr Crawford may recommend a deep cleaning treatment (‘debridement’). The purpose of this treatment is to remove any deposits from the root surfaces, which will encourage the gums to re-attach and the pocketing to reduce.
You will always be given detailed advice after treatment. In most cases some tenderness is likely for a few days, but patients are often surprised by how little discomfort they have.
You will be shown in detail how to maintain the improvements resulting from the deep cleaning, and we will give you the necessary brushes for the necessary meticulous daily cleaning routine. Your own efforts at home are essential to maintain the benefits of the treatment. Controlling periodontitis needs to be recognised as a life-long process.
POCKET DEPTH REDUCTION
Sometimes it is advisable to reduce the depth of individual deep pockets by localised surgical treatment, but this is rarely a treatment of first choice.
TREATMENT FOR GUM RECESSION
He will often recommend that impressions are taken so that models of the teeth showing an accurate record of the gum level can be kept for comparison in the future. In this way the specific areas of recession can be monitored precisely.
If the recession has reached the stage where treatment becomes necessary to replace it he will discuss possible ‘gum grafting’. This procedure involves taking some gum tissue from another part of the mouth and re-positioning it into the areas where it has been lost.
CROWN LENGTHENING
This is a minor surgical procedure carried out to slightly alter the position of the gum line. The main reasons for this treatment are to show more of a tooth before crowning
or
for aesthetic reasons such as to correct an asymmetry if the gum line is higher on one side of the front teeth than on the other side.