Can Gum Surgery Work and Actually Be Comfortable?
Well, to answer that question, let me tell you about a recent patient who had LANAP, aka Laser Periodontal TherapyTM. He drove over 4 hours, from just north of Myrtle Beach, SC because he couldn’t find anyone else near him (there are a few, but not that many) to provide this incredible treatment. When he came in, he related that his last dentist wanted to pull anywhere from 8-12 teeth that were thought to be hopelessly loose due to his really severe periodontal (gum) disease. His genuine hope was that he would not need to lose any more teeth than he already had lost, which is why he was willing to drive so far.
His consult was late morning on a Tuesday, and we determined that he was indeed a very good candidate for LANAP. I was confident that we wouldn’t need to take out ANY teeth for many years to come with LANAP. Due to the length of his drive, we were able to rearrange our afternoon schedule to do the entire treatment that day (for which he and I are very grateful to our understanding patients). His treatment included the following:
The Steps In LANAP Laser Gum Surgery
- Molds of his teeth to have our lab make nightguards for both top and bottom teeth, which will prevent his tooth-grinding from putting undue pressure on his teeth at night, and
- Splinting of his teeth: this means that we used bonding to “connect” all his top teeth together and then all his bottom teeth together, so no 1 tooth would take excessive pressure when biting (when all bonded together, they help support and reinforce each other), and
- A significant bite adjustment, which means I leveled out tooth areas where he was hitting too hard, leaving his bite more even and balanced, and finally……
- LANAP.
As you can imagine, that took awhile! What is remarkable, though, is what he told us when he came in just 1 week later for his follow-up visit. But rather than telling you myself, listen to David tell his own story in this patient testimonial video:
Here’s another LANAP Testimonial, from 1 month after her procedure was completed.
With experiences like this, it’s easy to understand why LANAP is one of our favorite procedures to do!