Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure
Laser Gum Surgery- Dec 16, 2009
So, today we have a short dissertation on periodontal (gum) disease. If you have anything at all that you’d rather do, you’re excused.
A tooth is anchored in a socket in the bone. Each tooth is suspended or anchored in its own socket by ligaments. The gum tissue attaches to the tooth at the top of the socket. If one gets food or plaque (old food, bacteria and sloughed cheek cells) stuck between or around the teeth, inflammation ensues. Just like getting a sliver stuck underneath a fingernail. This inflammation can cause that attachment of the gums to the tooth to deteriorate. This deterioration starts at the gum-line, in the form of a pocket. The longer the situation is allowed to exist, the deeper the pocket gets, eventually extending into and eroding the bone. It will eventually get so deep the patient cannot get anything that might get lodged in that pocket out of the pocket, deepening the pocket. Eventually, the bone is gone and the tooth falls out. When we (dentists or dental hygienists) discover this condition of chronic food impaction or gum inflammation, we can do what we call a laser-assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP) which will allow the gums to reattach to the tooth. This laser kills the bacteria which has taken-up residence in the bone; this allows the bone to regenerate. And, it creates access for the hygienist to scale (deep clean) the very depths of the pockets, again allowing eradication of the boney defect. The procedure also allows us to place an antibiotic in that deep pocket, furthering the pocket-eradication process.
Before the development of this technique using a laser, the periodontal specialist would cut the gum away from the bone, re-contour the bone, and in some cases pack artificial bone into the boney socket, then sew up the gums again. Very uncomfortable (dental euphemism for “hurts like the dickens”) post-operatively. The laser technique is much less invasive, and the recovery is almost painless.
In this day and age, removable dentures because of pre-maturely lost teeth are almost totally a thing of the past.