Periodontal Services • Prosper, TX
Specialty Care for
Your Gums & More
Your smile, just like where you live, has a foundation. Instead of concrete, your teeth rely on a base made up of your gums and the surrounding bone to stay in place. Without proper oral hygiene, this area of the mouth can actually develop an infection known as periodontal disease, which can lead to bleeding gums, bad breath, and ultimately tooth loss. Thankfully, certified periodontist Dr. Stephen Walker is an expert at finding and taking care of these kinds of issues to ensure that your entire smile, not just your teeth, remain healthy for many years to come.
Why Choose Texas Dental Surgery for Periodontal Services?
- Certified Periodontal Expert: Dr. Stephen Walker
- Gum Recontouring: Take Care of Your “Gummy” Smile
- Platelet-Rich Plasma: Heal Faster & Feel Better Sooner
Scaling & Root Planing
Periodontal disease – more commonly referred to as gum disease – is best caught and treated as early as possible. Depending on how advanced your gum disease is, we may suggest a deep cleaning, which is also known as scaling and root planing. This procedure not only targets the harmful bacteria causing the gum infection, but it can also help with the healing process. Read on to learn more about how scaling and root planing can help you get your gum health back on track.
Do I Need Scaling & Root Planing?
If your gum disease is still in its earliest stages, it may be possible to reverse it by brushing and flossing. In other cases, though, the condition may have already reached the point where scaling and root planing are necessary.
Our team can examine your mouth in order to determine whether a deep cleaning is needed in your case. Below are some of the symptoms that may indicate that you’re a good candidate for scaling and root planing:
- Your gums have started to recede, and as a result, your teeth look longer than normal.
- Your gums bleed easily. This can be especially noticeable when you’re brushing your teeth.
- Your gums are notably red and/or swollen.
- You have persistent bad breath.
- Your teeth have started to shift.
- You have trouble chewing your food.
The Process of Scaling & Root Planing
A local anesthetic will be applied to your mouth in order to help you stay comfortable during your treatment. Once that’s done, we can begin the scaling process. We will focus on the area around and below your gumline, checking for plaque and tartar buildup. These harmful substances will be gently removed with special dental instruments. We’ll make a point of cleaning all the way down to the bottom of any periodontal pockets that have appeared as a result of gum disease.
When scaling is complete, we can move on to root planing. This simply involves smoothing out the roots of your teeth. One of the benefits of root planing is that it helps the gums reattach to the roots. Another is that it makes it harder for harmful bacteria to build up on the roots in the future.
Aftercare Tips for Scaling & Root Planing
To make sure everything goes smoothly after scaling and root planing, our team will give you some tips for aftercare. Here are some steps that can help:
- Rinse with salt water every few hours. This can help soothe any discomfort that you may be experiencing.
- When you brush your teeth, be careful around the area where the treatment was performed.
- Plan on only eating soft foods for at least a couple of days following the procedure.
- Until your mouth has finished healing, stay away from any hot or spicy foods.
Non-Surgical Periodontal Treatment
Dr. Walker is able to provide a wide array of treatments that can combat and prevent periodontal disease. Topical and oral antibiotics can eliminate bacteria hidden deep below the gum line that is beyond the reach of regular instruments, and a pocket reduction can shrink the areas in the mouth where bacteria likes to hide and multiply most. For ongoing care, he can offer patients special toothpaste and mouthwashes that are specifically designed to inhibit periodontal disease.
Gum Recontouring
Whenever you smile, do your gums show more prominently than your teeth? This can give the smile a somewhat “off-kilter” appearance that makes even the most confident person feel self-conscious, but thankfully, Dr. Walker can offer a solution. He can remove any excess tissue quickly and painlessly with a soft tissue laser to reveal more of the teeth and give a patient that perfectly proportioned look they desire. Better yet, the entire procedure can be completed over the course of one short appointment, instantly delivering dramatic results.
Bone & Gum Tissue Grafting
Dr. Walker can perform a pair of grafting procedures that can drastically improve a patient’s oral health and appearance at the same time. A gum graft uses a patient’s own oral tissue to reverse gum recession, and a bone graft can strengthen and prepare a patient’s jawbone to support dental implants. Both treatments can usually be completed in just one appointment, and thanks to sedation dentistry, a comfortable experience is guaranteed for every patient.
Crown Lengthening
Sometimes, a patient’s tooth may appear to be too short because most of it is still encapsulated within the jawbone. Or, in other cases, a patient may develop decay or damage on a tooth that’s located below the gum line. For either, crown lengthening is the solution. With this procedure, Dr. Walker makes an incision in the gum line and removes a small amount of nearby jawbone to reveal more of a tooth’s crown. This then allows him to create a more balanced smile and/or fix any problems that were previously hidden.
Comprehensive Treatment Plans
Often, patients struggling with periodontal disease are also dealing with other oral health issues at the same time, whether it’s decayed, cracked, or missing teeth. Working closely with a patient’s general dentist, Dr. Walker can put together a comprehensive treatment plan to address all issues at once and prevent them from popping up again. Each plan is completely personalized based on the needs of a patient and can easily be adjusted to suit someone’s particular goals.
Platelet-Rich Plasma
After undergoing a surgical procedure on the gums, a small amount of healing time is always necessary. Platelet-rich plasma serves to make the recovery period much shorter for our patients. Derived from a patient’s own blood, PRP is applied to a treatment site along with a collagen framework to speed up the growth of new healthy tissue and prevent infection. It has also been shown to reduce post-treatment pain and swelling, helping a patient’s mouth feel completely normal days or weeks ahead of schedule.