What Is a Periodontist?

People are familiar with a dentist and even an orthodontist, but many people wonder: what is a periodontist? You have likely heard the term before and are confused as to what those in this profession do. In this article, we will discuss what is a periodontist, as well as other information regarding the periodontist career.

A periodontist is a dental doctor that specializes in periodontics. This word simply refers to the area around the bottom of the tooth where it meets the gum and the jawbone. These doctors work in a specialized branch of dentistry that deals solely with these structures that support and surround your teeth. This includes the alveolar bone, the gums, periodontal ligament and the cementum.

A periodontist has to go through three years of training in this specialty in order to prevent, diagnose and treat gum and periodontal disease. This comes after the first round of dental school that lasts for four years.

What Does a Periodontist Do?

Periodontists are experts in things like the placement of dental implants and treating periodontal disease. These doctors can also help with oral inflammation. They all know the latest technologies that surround the field, and they have been trained in delivering cosmetic procedures as well.

Periodontists often are the ones that treat the most trying of periodontal cases. These are the doctors that deal with those who have a deep medical history or those who have severe periodontal cases. These doctors offer a huge range of treatments. This includes root planing, scaling, root surface debridement and more. These doctors can also treat patients who have severe problems with their gums. They do this by way of surgical treatments.

Periodontists are also highly trained when it comes to dental implants. The first visit with a patient will usually involve reviewing the complete dental history of the patient. This is important if the periodontist needs to find out what medication the patient might be on or if they are being treated for anything else; things that could affect periodontal work include diabetes, heart disease and pregnancy.

The doctor will then examine the gum, see if there is any recession in the gums, see how the teeth fit together during a bite and see if any teeth are loose. They will also use an instrument that assesses the depth of the pockets of the gums to see how deep they are. Finally, they will take x-rays to see how the bone beneath the diseased area is holding up.

What Training Does a Periodontist Receive?

A periodontist gets the same training and schooling that a dentist is required to have. The thing is that after the usual schooling has been completed, they have to go through another three years of training. The training is specialized training that helps them to become experts in their field of teeth and gum health.

It is for these reasons that these doctors have to keep getting training over the years through continued education. This way, they are always up to date on the latest technologies and procedures. They can understand the true links between overall health and oral health.

Different Periodontics Treatments

There are a number of different things that a periodontist does in order to restore the structures of the teeth and gums. These include:

Soft tissue grafts

These grafts are made from grafted tissue that is taken from the roof of the mouth. This graft is made to smooth over the receding gum line to reinforce them again.

Flap surgery or pocket reduction

This is where they lift your gums back to remove the tartar in the teeth. Any uneven surfaces are also smoothed out in order to stop any sort of buildup of bacteria. Your gums will then be put back around the teeth in order to help get rid of any areas where this bacteria can hide out.

Bone grafts

They may have to take fragments of your bone, donated bone or synthetic bone to put in your jaw. This happens when they need to replace fragments of the bone in your jaw that has been ruined by gum disease. These grafts will work to support the regrowth of the bone while supporting your teeth.

Guided tissue regeneration

This is where the jaw bone that supports your teeth has been destroyed and they must put mesh style fabric in between the bone and your gums. This keeps your gums from joining with the bone. This is done usually with flap surgery to let the connective tissue grow to better support your teeth.

Bone surgery

This treats shallow parts in the bone where the bone has been lost. They smooth this out after the flap surgery has been completed.

Who Should See a Periodontist?

A few patients will be able to manage their periodontal issues by visiting a standard dentist; however, there are more patients that exhibit signs of this disease that need to see a periodontist. Furthermore, there has been more research that states that there is a relationship between general chronic diseases and periodontal disease. For this reason, it may be necessary to see a periodontist who specializes in this illness in order to ensure that you have no correlating diseases.

If you do, they need to be treated by a trained specialist in conjunction with your periodontist. Patients who have moderate or severe disease in the mouth might need to work with both a general dentist and a periodontist as well for best results. If you think that you might have periodontal disease, it is important to get in to see your dentist before the disease progresses; as it progresses, the treatment for it becomes more intensive as outlined above.

Conclusion

In our article, we have discussed what a periodontist is. Have you ever been to see a periodontist to get work done? Do you have one in your family? Let us know your experience with a periodontist in the comments section that can be found below.