Periodontal Therapy & Maintenance
Understanding gum disease, why we’re recommending treatment, and what happens next.
If we’ve recommended periodontal therapy, you may be wondering why you need something different from a routine cleaning — or why we’re talking about appointments every three months afterward.
This page is here to make the process a little easier to understand.
What Is Periodontal Disease?
There is a small space between each tooth and the surrounding gum tissue — similar to the space between your fingernail and your finger.
Bacteria can collect in this space and cause inflammation. In its earlier, reversible stage, this is known as gingivitis.
When the infection progresses deeper, it can affect the periodontal ligament and eventually the bone that supports your teeth. As bone is lost, the condition becomes periodontal disease and, if it continues to progress, can ultimately contribute to tooth loss.
Unlike a problem that simply disappears after one treatment, periodontal disease is a chronic condition that needs to be controlled and monitored over time. Perio Consent
Your Gum Health Is Part of Your Overall Health
At Inspired Dental Wellness, we practice whole-person dentistry because your mouth isn’t separate from the rest of you.
The handout discusses associations between periodontal disease and a number of systemic health conditions. That is one reason we take gum health seriously and want you to understand what is happening rather than simply telling you that you need a “deep cleaning.” Perio Consent
And while daily home care is incredibly important, it isn’t the only factor.
Your genetics, immune response, medications, systemic health, stress and other individual factors can influence how susceptible you are to periodontal disease and how your body responds to it. Perio Consent
What Is Non-Surgical Periodontal Therapy?
If our doctors and hygienists have recommended scaling and root planing, sometimes called non-surgical gum therapy or a “deep cleaning,” the goal is to remove the calculus, or tartar, and harmful biofilm that have accumulated beneath the gumline and around the roots of the teeth.
Treatment typically takes place over 2 to 4 appointments, with each appointment lasting approximately 1 to 2 hours.
Anesthetic may be used when appropriate so we can keep you as comfortable as possible throughout treatment. Perio Consent
What Happens After Treatment?
Finishing the initial periodontal therapy isn’t the end of the process.
About 4 to 6 weeks later, we’ll reassess your gums and see how your body has responded.
For many patients, the next step is periodontal maintenance approximately every 3 months. The goal of these visits is to keep the disease process under control rather than allowing harmful bacterial colonies time to reorganize and begin causing additional damage.
Over time, we hope these appointments feel less like “treatment” and more like well-visits where we’re working together to maintain the health we’ve achieved. Perio Consent
Your Care Is Individual
Periodontal disease doesn’t behave exactly the same way in every person.
We’ll continue assessing your response to treatment and adjust your care accordingly. In some circumstances, that may include additional deep scaling, restorative treatment, bite adjustments, laser treatment, or collaboration with a periodontist, a dentist who specializes in gum health. Perio Consent
The goal isn’t simply to get you through a series of appointments. It’s to partner with you in getting your mouth as healthy as you would like it to be — and helping you keep it that way.