Is Perioscope Painful?
Gum disease will negatively impact both your oral health and your healthy smile. Gum disease, or periodontal disease, is a frequent and common dental issue that adversely affects the health of many Americans. Without proper professional treatment promptly, gum disease can cause significant bone deterioration in your jaw, resulting in the loss of teeth and numerous other harmful effects.
A New Non-Surgical Option to Treat Gum Disease
In the preliminary stages, periodontal disease can be treated simply with professional cleaning of your teeth. The treatment for more moderate or advanced gum disease now becomes more complex, and the damage is more difficult to reverse. The focus at this point of the treatment is to remove the source of the infection and therefore prevent any further damage. The initial treatment, called deep cleaning or scaling and root planing, removes all tartar and calculus deposits, which are the primary source of the bacteria, from below your gumline. This method is effective, but it might also result in some residual deposits sometimes missed in the deep periodontal pockets because of the inability to visualize the process during the cleaning. This usually means more aggressive treatment is next, involving gum surgery. With the introduction of the perioscope, which features a tiny miniature digital camera, it now allows your dentist to completely treat specific areas below your gumline without adding gum surgery. Now your dental team, with the use of the dental perioscope, can see actual, dramatically magnified details of the tartar and calculus deposits below your gumline, allowing successful treatment of the gum disease in a minimally invasive treatment.
The Perioscope Procedure
A very tiny, miniature camera is attached to a small fiber optic probe and gently placed below your gumline. The images are displayed live on a video monitor for your dental team to observe. The dental perioscope will provide up to 45x magnification and reveal minuscule detail under your gums that, before this advanced technology, was often easily missed. By using this device, your dentist is now able to see under the gumline and easily achieve thorough and successful cleaning, which also accelerates healing and prevents any further damage.
Does a Periscope Hurt?
There is extraordinarily little, if any, discomfort whatsoever during or following the use of a perioscope for your gum treatment. Your dental team will include the necessary measures to ensure your comfort, such as the use of a local anesthetic.
The Benefits of a Perioscope
Perioscope-assisted treatments can offer a variety of benefits, including:
- Provides a minimally invasive approach to gum tissue treatment.
- Improves your periodontal health.
- There is truly little, if any, downtime through the healing process.
- Reduces or eliminates the need for gum surgery.
- Does not involve any incisions or sutures.
- Enhances and promotes the success of your gum disease treatment.
- It can be a very cost-effective alternative to a surgical approach.
Are You a Candidate for Perioscopy?
When it comes to treating your gum disease, seeing your dentist for professional care early will minimize your risk of any gum recession, tooth loss, and other concerns. If you have swollen or bleeding gums, bad breath, or other symptoms of gum disease, you might be a viable candidate for treatment with the use of a perioscope.
Related Article: How Long Does Perioscope Take?