We now offer Laser Bacterial Reduction for treatment of gum disease!

Kills bacteria in your mouth for 3 months!

We are constantly learning and striving to advance the standard of patient care in our office. As such we have recently added a new procedure to your routine cleaning care to help fight periodontal disease.
Periodontal disease affects approximately 80% of adults and is a growing epidemic in our society. Understanding of this disease has increased greatly over the last few years. We now know that periodontal disease is a bacterial infection in the pockets around the teeth. We now not only treat this disease with removal of plaque/tarter and diseased tissue (your normal cleaning) but are also addressing the underlying infection that causes it. With that in mind, we recommend that all of our patients have laser bacterial reduction prior to cleaning appointments for three major reasons.
1. To reduce or eliminate bacteria. During the normal cleaning process most patients will have some areas that may bleed, this allows bacteria that are present in all of our mouths to flood into the bloodstream and sometimes settle in weakened areas of our body such as a damaged heart valve or artificial joint. Latest research shows that these oral pathogens have now been linked to a number of other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, low birth weight babies, diabetes, etc. Needless to say, anything that we can do to reduce or eliminate these bacteremias is a benefit for our patients.
2. To prevent cross contamination of infections in one area of your mouth to other areas. Bacterial reduction minimizes the chance that we may inadvertently pick up bacterial infection in one area of your mouth and move it to others.
3. To kill periodontal disease bacteria and stop infections before they cause destruction or loss of attachment around your teeth. The laser bacterial reduction process is painless and normally takes about 5-10 minutes. We highly recommend that you take advantage of this service as part of your routine cleaning. Laser treatment kills the bacteria for 3 months at a time, as opposed to Chlorhexadine, which last 8 hours, or Arestin which lasts 21 days. The fee is $40 and may or may not be covered by your insurance. Unfortunately insurance coverage is almost always behind the leading edge in high tech health care. Please ask your hygienist if you have any questions regarding this treatment.