Root Planing
Root planing is performed with use of local anesthesia/nitrous oxide (laughing gas) to assure your comfort.
This allows the ultrasonic and hand instrumentation of the root surfaces without pain or discomfort to remove plaque, calculus (tartar), bacteria, etc.. Your condition is evaluated 6 weeks later to determine if sufficient shrinkage of the periodontal pockets has occurred and infection eliminated. As a last resort, periodontal surgery may be recommended in areas of the mouth that did not respond to the non-surgical treatment. Cosmetic plastic surgery may be necessary to improve appearance, or where an attempt is made to regrow the bone support (regeneration) around a tooth.
In advanced or severe recurrent cases, culture tests may be prescribed and the use of appropriate antibiotics used to eliminate the infection.
Even in the most severe cases of periodontal disease, non-surgical therapy precedes surgical therapy to improve the overall health of the gum tissues which achieves better surgical results.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT AFTER NON-SURGICAL TREATMENT?
After the non-surgical treatment is performed, you will be numb for approximately 1 1/2 hours. You must wait for the anesthesia to wear off before eating to avoid accidently biting your lip or tongue. Minor soreness and sensitivity is to be expected when the anesthesia wears off, so you may use pain medication, such as Aspirin or Advil to alleviate the soreness. You should be able to return to work the same day.
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