Traditional surgery can be fairly painful and require pain medication and downtime. Many patients opt for dental implants to avoid the pain involved in gum surgery. LANAP® involves much less discomfort. There is almost never a need to prescribe pain medication and the patients can usually go right back to work and move on with their daily routine.
Recession – Because traditional surgery requires the use of a blade there is no getting away from the gum line being reduced. The question is how much. Traditional surgery can result in lowering the gum line anywhere from 2-4 mm all the way to 10-15mm. LANAP® is much less invasive and more selective in the tissue that it cuts… This results in little to no recession of the gum line. This is a very important difference because recession can lead to a number of aesthetic problems for the patient, and cause the teeth to become very sensitive to cold and hot temperatures.
The healing time for LANAP® is much faster because it is a new technology that is less invasive than scalpel surgery. The laser kills the bacteria in your pockets resulting in reduction of inflammation and healthier tissue.
Although we can have fantastic results long term with both treatments, LANAP® is far more predictable when it comes to bone regeneration and connective reattachment of the tissue. The laser stimulates the bone that surrounds the root of the tooth and has been proven to encourage regeneration, often saving teeth that would have previously been extracted. Many times we can reverse the effects of periodontal disease and the patient will get better and better as time goes on.
