Bone Regeneration![]() What Happens During Periodontal Disease?Gum disease and periodontal disease are the same thing. There are three different stages of the disease. The first stage, gingivitis, is easy to spot. Gingivitis means that your gums may be swollen and inflamed, or very red. If you brush or floss regularly, you might notice that your gums often bleed. We can help you with gingivitis through teaching you better oral hygiene. Gingivitis can be cured, and your gums will go back to normal. During the second or third stages of the disease, which are called periodontitis, you have infected gums. Bacteria infect your gums, and you could begin to experience damage to your gums. Periodontitis causes spaces between your teeth and gums, and those spaces are full of bacteria. While we can help you treat stage two and three of periodontal disease, we can’t completely heal your gums. This is especially true of stage three, when the infection can greatly damage your bones, teeth and gums. Over time, you could lose your teeth and your gum tissue. Can Bone Be Regenerated?Believe it or not, we can regenerate bone lost because of gum disease. Our first step in bone regeneration is to make sure your gums are cleared of infection. We may have to move the gum tissue in order to treat the infection. When the infection is cleared up, we can begin bone grafting procedures. Bone grafts are able to regenerate both the bone and surrounding gum tissue. To do a bone graft, we move the gum tissue and place bone grafts in the area of your mouth that has been damaged due to gum disease. We can get bone grafts from your mouth, your body, a cadaver, or an animal. Once we have done bone grafts in your jaw, we protect the area with a membrane. These bone grafts help us to help your body heal itself by regenerating its own bone and gum tissue. If we are able to do bone grafts, we can help you keep your bone and tissue for years to come. We can also use these bone grafts as a launching point for implants, bridges or denture work. If you have questions about bone regeneration, give Fay Periodontal Associates a call at (913) 268-9300. |