I have had good help from Calcium Therapy Institute in Omaha. They have a non invasive approach to healing gums with a patented Calcium Zinc compound that is very soothing. I have had great improvement with my gums after spending 30 years of dental hygiene and dentist appointments I refused the invasive treatments and glad I did. You can order the materials online. I also went to Omaha on inexpensive airfares for in office treatment and it was cheaper than thousands on invasive unsuccessful therapies. Check it out.
Look into LANAP Surgery. It is expensive but worth every tooth you will save.
Hi everyone, have a look at regenerative periodontal endoscopy or RPE. I've been reading about this non-surgical procedure that seems to treat even moderate to advanced periodontal disease with deep pockets and advanced bone loss.
I' sorry to hear about the stories here on periodontal disease. I have two teeth with 5-mm deep pockets but no bone loss and a tooth that was on the verge of being root canaled treated. It's when I was told about this that I started researching and I came across said treatment.
Hope this helps everyone.
wow @hopefulone1 thanks for sharing your experience, I too have a severe bone loss and I'm only 32yrs old. Your experience is so helpful to me and the 8 year follow-up was just amazing, you don't see lots of 8year follow-ups.
Well it's 8 years now since the horrible, awful diagnosis of periodontal disease. Wow, that's a long time. I am 44 years old now. I did get the scaling and planing done in all 4 quadrants - just a super deep cleaning by the hygienist. I could not get the flap surgery done because A) it was FAR too expensive and B) it seemed VERY PAINFUL and I just wasn't willing to pay that much money to have such a painful thing done. So, instead I paid $500 to have my dentist bond all of my lower front teeth together to anchor them in there a little better since the x-rays showed that they were all almost literally hanging onto my gums by a thread. So now it is 8 years since I had that done and I have only lost 2 teeth so far. The 2 upper 1st molars that were very, very loose (the teeth that sent me running to the dentist to start the whole crazy diagnosis). In about 2010 the upper right one became more and more loose, to the point I felt like a freakin' 10 year old loosing a tooth again! It eventually fell out on its own, I put it under my pillow and that mean old tooth fairy didn't leave me ****. RIP OFF!!
Then in about 2013 the upper left first molar did the same thing. Looser and looser til it fell out on its own. Again I put it under my pillow and again that tooth fairy lady didn't leave me anything. Really annoying! And so that is it, all of my other teeth are still in there. The lower ones are bonded together, and to be honest the bonding could probably stand to be re-done as a few years ago some of it started to crack a little, but since then I think the plaque sealed it back down.
I do still brush after every meal and rinse with original Listerine after every meal. It's a habit now and if I dont brush after meals I feel gross. I didn't get the two upper molars replaced with anything because I am cheap and poor and now afraid of dentists because I know my teeth are really messed up and I am afraid of all the s&#t they're going to tell me to do which I am not going to do. I did get the $400 bite plate and use it at night for a few years till my dog got hold of it and chewed it to bits one day.
I fully expect my lower teeth to one day just fall out all together since they are bonded together, but that has not happened in the 8 years since they told me they definitely would fall out. They do occasionally ache for just a second. They're all loose as hell but I never touch them. I'm just grateful I can still chew for now. I remember how freaked out I was when the periodontist told me I needed expensive surgery and to buy 6 implants for $10,000 and build a new mouth. I really thought I needed to do that but it turned out I didn't!
Hi I too had some money issues and no insurance for 7 yrs I lost a tooth and went to a community clinic after a two minute exam and X-ray of upper and lower no. Explaining what she saw just said you know you have periodontal desease and have no bone left all your teeth are gonna be pulled and will be fitted for full dentures and gave me an antibiotic and left the room. I am so scared I just don't know what to do.
Finally a person who sounds like me!!!! I have always had perfect teeth, never missed a cleaning. Then 2008 came along and I was flat broke, no home and had to move out of California. I went to the dentist and finally got my teeth cleaned 2 years later, I had a cavity. Skipped the next 4 years because of money....VERY BAD IDEA. NOW I GO IN AND NOT ONLY DID THIS NEW DENTIST do a full mouth X-ray, they checked for cancer, did a perio chart and let me know I had periontal disease WHAT???? Had no idea what she meant. My teeth have been wobbly for a couple years but I was told it was from stress, I had no bad breath or bleeding gums. Now I go to the perio and she wants to pull 5 molars and only put one back as an implant. I have been in tears for 72 hours and I feel I am way to young to be loosing teeth. So I am getting a second opinion and I will ask about the way you have went about it oxox thank you for your story!!!! Heather
this is my first time being here and ive been reading so much bout this disease and discussed with my dentist my options and without having the finances and dental plan i feel so hopeless and scared of my future daily health as this disease could infect other parts of my body and this shatters me that ime so lost and burdened and scared. ive recently talked with my dentist bout pulling all my teeth and getting dentures and the cost is bout 5500 dollars, and ime at a point where if i dont get my teeth pulled soon i wont have any bone left to even get dentures. so reading in here how hopefulone is actually getting better give me a pinch of hope, but ime still so confused as my knowledge of this disease is that it does not stop completely until all the bone has deteriated. ive cried and been so scared of my health, and yes tried to hide from it, but now i will talk to my dentist bout this debridement and see wha he says, but i dont like the doxycycline treatment as been on that before and resulted in digestive disorder. at the bottom of my rope here with other health issues so praying for a miracle
glad to hear things are going so well for you! keep up the good work and hopefully you will not end up loosing any teeth. keep us posted!!!
Oh and on other thing, Periostat alone is not a treatment for periodontitis. I will be on Periostat for up to 9 months, but it alone would never stop the infection. It is being used as an adjunct to other, more direct approaches to stop the infection.
When I first visited my periodontist in February, my periodontal pockets (the space between my teeth and the bottom of my gum) measured 8 and 9 mm consistently throughout my mouth. I was at my periodontist 2 weeks ago for a follow up and my poscket depths had all be reduced to 3's and 4's - which is HUGE improvement. Now my pockets are getting shallower, whcih allows me to clean more effectively at the gumline, thereby reducing the possibility of the disease advancing. I have committed to brushing, flossing and rinsing after every meal for the rest of my life - I enjoy chewing food. :)
I forgot this thread was even here. Since I first posted in February, I have had quite a bit of work done. First the full mouth debridement, which is just where the hygienist goes in and scraps off all the visible calculus. After that was done I had 4 separate visits of scaling and root planing done with placement of subginigival antibiotics (antibiotics placed under the gum line). Those were each done under gneral anethestetic. After the 1st two quadrants of scaling & root planing I was on 2 different courses of oral antibiotics. This was an attempt to stop the infection around my teeth, because that is what peridontitis is.
After all 4 quadrants had been done I was put in PerioStat, a low dose doxycycline which is aimed at stopping the bodies production of the enzyme that destroys the jaw bone.
I have also been fitted for a night guard to prevent me from clenching my jaw while I sleep, another huge contribtor to my bone loss.
I have not as yet lost any teeth, but the very loose teeth in my mouth are still very loose. My periodontist has advised me that he does want to perform the flap surgery on my lower teeth only. Before this is done, I will visit my regular dentist to have the lower teeth bonded together in the back, to stabilize them. None of these lower teeth are loose to me, but if you saw my x-rays you would wonder how these suckers are staying in there.
All in all so far everything has only cost me $1700 bucks, but the surgery, with bone replacement in the pockets, will run me $1900 a quadrant, and there's 2 quadrants.
I continue to brush, floss, and rinse after every meal. Plaque control is my number one job with my teeth, and without it all this money I am paying is ill spent!
As far as how long it took me to get to 90% bone loss......I had a dentist tell me about 8 years ago that I never had to worry about cavities, it was periodontitis I had to worry about. The only problem was, I had no real idea what she was talking about, and so I never visited the periodontist (or gum surgeon as she called it) So I imagine had I taken action 8 years ago I wouldn't be in this position today, however that is water under the bridge and here I am.
Like I said, no teeth havc fallen out yet, so I am glad about that. If and when 4 and 13 do fall out or get infected, I will just get fake teeth there. Pretty simple really.
After reviewing the web site of perio protect, I would consider the product is only the adjunctive therapy of conventional treatment. The rationale of periodontal therapy is complete debridement of root surface, without healthy root surface, cure of periodontal disease is almost impossible. So far, mechanical debridement of root surface is time-proven, evidence-based therapeutical modality. However, perioprotect may reduce the bacterial load on the root surface,and may yield some therapeutic effect. I do'nt think complete cure of periodontal disease is achievable through perioprotect.
i have the same condition as you.my dentist as put me on a non surgical procedure called perio protect.you.i have not been on it long so cannot say if it works.the product is perio protect.you can go to their website www.perioprotect.com and check it out and find a dentist in your area.the treatment is less invasive and cheaper.if you have a medical plan they write a prescription for the medication.
Agree with what you were told
I'm sorry to hear about your bone loss. Did the dentist say how long it takes to get to that stage? I've been diagnosed with periodontal disease. I've done the first part of a full-mouth debridement. I'm doing the second part soon. I've been told this will stop the disease.
If tooth does have lost 90% of supporting bone, tooth is generally very mobile. Very often the tooth will fall our itself. If tooth is non-salvable, flap surgery is not indicated. However, if certain teeth are still salvable. flap surgery does help completely debride the contaminated root surface and prolong the life of tooth.
once they get loose its nearly impossible to save all of them you could try the surgery and save some of them maybe but it will be very expensive. the problem is when it gets this bad its hard to project an expected outcome. if you will probably loose some during the procedure and the dentist really thinks the underlying infection will remain you might want to consider dentures. if you can afford the surgery AND a good set of dentures try the surgery first. if the surgery will break the bank or restrict your funds enough so if it fails you will be unable to afford a good quality set of dentures go straight to the good dentures. a friend of mine got an inexpensive cookie cutter denture very cheap and has had them break several times. the first time was after 3 1/2 months and she was told they had only a 3 month warranty so she had to pay for repairs. they kind of looked like chicklets. i wish you luck!