Anyone with advanced gum disease knows how much the condition can ravage the mouth. Gum disease literally destroys connective and periodontal tissues, causing tooth pain and tooth loss.
The bacteria involved with gum disease are also associated with other health problems such as heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and stroke.
Common Treatment for Advanced Gum Disease
Gum disease treatment typically starts with periodontal therapy. Depending on the stage of your infection, this can involve root planning, scaling, soft tissue grafts, bone grafts, and more. The goal is to stop the inflammatory process going on in your mouth.
Results can range from partial tissue regeneration to healing, but this, too, depends on how far the disease has progressed. In severe cases, though, therapy can regenerate some tissue, but it offers limited potential for complete restoration.
But that may be changing thanks to platelet-rich fibrin (PRF).
Repairing Ravaged Tissue
PRF is made by spinning a small sample of a patient’s blood in a centrifuge so it forms a thin membrane that’s shaped and placed over a gum disease site.�It then forms a strong natural structure, concentrating almost all the platelets and growth factors of the blood. This creates a healing structure that�enhances wound healing and regeneration.
Research suggests that providing PRF after periodontal therapy may speed up healing, promote tissue repair, and aid in the development of new blood vessels. It also appears to boost the immune response, promote anti-infectious activities, and may remodel both the tissue and bone matrix during wound healing.
In a healthy mouth, bone and tissue serve as the foundation that keep your teeth in position. With gum disease, that foundation is weakened. Â?Of course, YOU still play the most important role in managing the other factors that support optimum healing.
Controlling plaque, quitting nicotine, improving diet, managing stress, and getting enough good sleep and exercise will always be critical. Always.
