Gum Treatments

Gum disease affects millions of people and is the leading cause of tooth loss among adults. It may start as gingivitis – a bacterial infection of the tissues in the mouth – and progress to periodontal gum disease. If not treated, serious gum disease can cause the gums and the bones underneath to recede, resulting in tooth loss. Periodontal disease can also cause other serious medical conditions, and in pregnant women it can cause miscarriage, premature birth and low birth weight. All pregnant women should visit their dentist frequently to check they do not have gum disease.

Gum disease may result from medical conditions such as diabetes, stroke and heart attacks; from hormonal and metabolic changes in your body, or from poor dental hygiene. It is nothing to be ashamed of, and it can usually be treated quite easily.

An expert dentist like Dr. Yoav Orbach will be able to assess the damage caused by gum disease and advise on its treatment and rehabilitation. He may recommend deep cleaning to remove calculus deposits, and antibiotic treatment to kill bacteria found in gum pockets. If the disease has progressed, gum surgery may be needed to remove tissue around the teeth that is unhealthy and cannot be repaired.

Recession Coverage

Receding gums are usually caused by and contribute to gum disease. We may need to operate to reduce gaps or pockets that have opened up between the teeth and gums, so that bacteria cannot collect here. We may recommend flap surgery, also known as pocket reduction surgery, which opens the gums to remove tartar and replaced to fit neatly around the tooth. This helps to reduce the spaces between the gums and the teeth, to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria below the gum line and stop the spread of periodontal disease. Dr. Orbach believes in taking a minimally invasive approach and utilizing the latest non-surgical techniques, so that in many cases dental surgery is not necessary.

Bone & Soft Tissue Augmentation

If the bone beneath your gums has been damaged by periodontal disease, we recommend tissue regeneration. In most cases, adopting this least invasive approach encourages the body to regenerate itself. Only in cases where this is not successful, Dr. Orbach would graft new bone to your jaw to encourage bone re-growth. This procedure usually uses fragments of your own bone, synthetic bone, or donated bone to replace bone destroyed by gum disease. These grafts create a platform for the regrowth of your jaw bone, to restore the stability of your teeth. It may also be necessary to reshape your jaw bone to remove shallow craters in the bone where bacteria may collect and grow.

To strengthen thin gums, we generally use soft tissue grafts from other areas of the mouth. This procedure reinforces thin gums or fills in places where gums have receded. Grafted tissues, most often taken from the roof of the mouth, are stitched in place to add tissue to the affected area. We sometimes use laser therapy to repair gum pockets, but there is no definitive evidence that laser therapy helps to restore damaged gum tissue and it is not always helpful.

Dr. Yoav Orbach attends regular international dental conferences to learn the latest techniques to treat periodontal disease and its effects. Where the bone that supports your teeth has been destroyed, we use the latest techniques of guided tissue regeneration to stimulate bone and gum tissue growth. This involves inserting a small membrane of mesh-like fabric between the bone and gum tissue to encourage your body to regenerate bone and connective tissue in the correct locations and at an accelerated rate.

Cosmetic Gum Surgery

When you look at your smile, you may feel that your mouth is too “gummy”, your gum line is uneven or asymmetrical, or your teeth look too short. We can solve this cosmetic problem with a gum lift or with gum-line recontouring, to reshape the gums around your front teeth. We can also remove excess gum to create the right proportion for your smile, rebalancing the visible ratio of gum-to-tooth and helping to restore a symmetrical gum line and giving you a million-dollar smile. Talk to Dr. Yoav Orbach about the various options for cosmetic dentistry to make your teeth and gums look better, to improve your natural smile.

Gum Treatments in Jerusalem

If you need gum treatment in Israel and you are looking for an English-speaking dentist to advise and help you, look no further. Dr. Yoav Orbach is one of the leading esthetic dentists with periodontal expertise in Jerusalem. Contact us today for a consultation without obligation, to discuss the various gum treatment options available today. Call our Jerusalem clinic on 02-545-5603 or click here to schedule an appointment.