Gum Treatment
Any damage to your gums, in the form of bleeding, inflammation or receding of gums, if left untreated can result in tooth immobility and loss. Depending on its severity, gum treatment is cured by non-surgical or surgical procedures. They are:
Non-surgical
Deep cleaning (Scaling and Root planing)
Deep cleaning is a combination of scaling and root planing. After numbing your mouth, calculus (A mixture of tartar and plaque contaminated by bacterial toxins, micro-organisms, and other organic residue) is scraped from around and below the gum line. Unfortunately, this leaves the root surface rough and irregular. These irregularities are therefore planed or smoothened, so that the gum tissue can easily reattach to teeth roots that are clean and smooth.
Surgical
Crown lengthening
Crown lengthening is undertaken in order to restore a tooth that does not have enough tooth structure above the gum-line, to support a filling or a crown. Crown lengthening is also used to treat gummy smiles, where, a smile shows-off more gum, and less teeth.
Under local anesthesia, gum incisions are made, so that your gums flap open. This exposes more of your tooth. And if necessary, deeper incisions are cut to expose the underlying bone too. Then, with enough tooth structure exposed, the gums are sterilised and sutured. Now, your tooth is ready for a crown. Or your smile, ready for appreciation.
Flap Surgery
When the gum inflammation is severe, with deep cleaning rendered ineffective, or if there has been bone loss that needs to be surgically corrected, then flap surgery is your solution. Under local anesthesia, small incisions are made to lift the gums, exposing the root and bone. The entire area is then meticulously cleaned, with all tartar and infected granulation tissues removed. Then the bone is examined. If required, the bone is re-contoured to enable quick and comprehensive healing. The gums are now sutured in place.
The entire surgical procedure usually lasts between 1 - 3 hours, with two quadrants of the mouth corrected in a single visit. The sutures remain for approximately a week.
