The tissue surrounding the tooth is called periodontal. And it can get inflamed. Manifestations such as bleeding or retracting gums, as well as pain, are typical of this condition which is extremely frequent and contrasts above all with good oral hygiene and regular check-ups at the dentist.
But you have to pay attention to these rules. Otherwise the deep inflammation of the gums caused by bacteria present in the dental plaque not adequately removed with proper oral hygiene can become an enemy for the smile, although many believe that having bleeding or receding gums is normal or that you cannot do a lot.
There are situations in which the bacteria present in the plaque have managed to enter under the gums destroying the anchor that keeps the tooth firmly attached to the bone. And then, in the most serious forms, you risk losing a tooth. What can be done in these cases? Here are the tips from the experts.
Help from the patient’s cells
When periodontitis is very advanced, in what experts call stage III or IV and one or more teeth have already been lost, saving the remaining teeth is not easy because the residual periodontal tissue is often very compromised and reabsorbed.
Today, however, one can resort to state-of-the-art add-on therapies that use highly biocompatible and performing materials for minimally invasive and successful interventions.
The latest innovations in the sector were discussed during the 20th national congress of the Italian Society of Periodontology and Implantology (SIdP), where the experts reiterated the importance of prevention and underlined how alongside the use of innovative biomaterials, advanced technologies also allow today to optimize intervention times, reduce complications and increase patient satisfaction by improving access to care, for example thanks to the careful planning of the most complex surgical phases.
“The patient with severe stage III or IV periodontitis has already suffered a lot and often needs implant-prosthetic surgical and rehabilitation therapies – recalls Luca Landi, president of SIDP, In addition to support periodontal therapy, the primary goal is to restore masticatory function through the reconstruction of hard and soft tissues that have been lost.
Today it is possible to do this even in the most complex cases, for example thanks to tissue engineering, which reduces the use of the patient’s bone in favor of support structures, the so-called scaffolds, which are customized according to the degree of atrophy of the bone tissue. This can also be increased thanks to new multi-layered bone and gingival augmentation techniques, using collagen and L-PRF membranes, physiologically polymerized autogenous fibrin, rich in platelets, leukocytes, growth factors and plasma proteins and obtained from a appropriately centrifuged patient blood sampling “.
The space of technology
Next to the biomateriali, the role of innovative technologies that allow, for example, to plan better and in advance the volume of bone augmentation, to use osteosynthesis plates, grids and customized biomaterials based on digital examinations of the hard and soft tissues of the individual patient or even to correct and harmonize the structures peri-implant gingival by performing grafts of collagen matrices, with an aesthetic and biological benefit.
All this translates into better results and numerous advantages for the patient, as Landi explains: “the design phase in complex implant-prosthetic rehabilitations today requires more time and energy than the surgical and prosthetic realization phase, because there is an extreme customization of the whole procedure.
However, chair time decreases and so do complications, increasingly meeting the needs of patients who require fast treatment and lasting results; furthermore, when the correct volumetric characteristics around the implants are achieved, the premise is also created for a lower probability that the new roots will become ill over time, developing inflammation around the implant.
The great attention to the planning of implant therapy, the use of innovative biomaterials and the continuous monitoring of periodontitis are the keys to success for the survival of teeth and implants “.
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