Dr. Deena Sher, DMD Claimed

Maintenance therapy is used to help prevent further infection from occurring in patients who have already received periodontal treatment. Dr. Frankel will tailor a program to fit your needs, which will include periodontal checkups, plaque and tartar removal and sometimes polishing your teeth or checking your bite. The frequency of visits varies from case to case from every few weeks to four times per year.

Whether you need surgery or not will depend on how advanced your periodontal disease is. There are non-surgical treatments, such as root scaling and planing available, for those with mild gum disease. If you are in the advanced stages of gum disease, you may benefit from having surgery. With the latest technology and advanced techniques available today, many surgical procedures can be performed in an office setting with little discomfort.

Your periodontist, Dr. Frankel, can determine if dental implants are the best restoration option for your individual case. Dental implants have a natural look and feel and can help prevent shifting of surrounding teeth. Implants are often preferred to bridges and dentures because they are more secure. The average life span of a bridge has been shown to be between 7 to 10 years. Dental implants have been shown to last much longer than a bridge and in many instances will last a life time.

Sometimes when you lose one or more teeth, you can get an indention in your gums and jawbone where the tooth used to be. This happens because the jawbone recedes when it no longer is holding a tooth in place. Not only is this indentation unnatural looking, it also causes the replacement tooth to look too long compared to the adjacent teeth. This may even affect the way you speak if it involves a front tooth.
A periodontist can fill in this “defect” with a procedure called a ridge augmentation, recapturing the natural contour of your gums and jaw. A new tooth can then be created by your dentist that is natural looking, easy-to-clean, and beautiful.

Periodontal procedures are available to stop further dental problems and gum recession, and/or to improve the esthetics of your gum line. Exposed tooth roots are the result of gum recession. Perhaps you wish to enhance your smile by covering one or more of these roots that make your teeth appear too long. Or, maybe you’re not bothered by the appearance of these areas, but you cringe because the exposed roots are sensitive to hot or cold foods and liquids.

Your gums may have receded for a variety of reasons, including aggressive tooth brushing or periodontal disease. You may not be in control of what caused the recession, but prior to treatment your periodontist can help you identify the factors contributing to the problem. Once these contributing factors are controlled, a soft tissue graft procedure will repair the defect and help to prevent additional recession and bone loss. Soft tissue grafts can be used to cover roots or develop gum tissue where absent due to excessive gingival recession. This can be done for one tooth or several teeth to even your gum line and reduce sensitivity.

A procedure called esthetic crown enhancement can correct “gummy” smiles. “Gummy” smiles make teeth appear too short because either the gum and/or supporting bone did not passively repositon lower around the tooth after its eruption into the mouth. With esthetic crown enhacement, the gums and supporting tissues are reshaped/repositioned to expose the natural length & form of the tooth.