before any periodontal surgery you have to had a very low percent of plaque and no calculus inside those pockets because those bacterias could infect the healing processes and could be worse ,thats why root planning and curreteage is made for to clean inside your gums and control the inflamation . it would be good to use tetracycline and peridex or perioguard too . do the surgery its the best option to save your teeth maybe not all of them but maybe there are ones with better prognosis than others.

I saw another dentist today who told me he does not recommend the flap surgery because my bone loss is so advanced and flap surgery would cause more bone loss. He said that not every area in my mouth has as severe bone loss as many others. My 2 rear molars are pretty well rooted in bone, while everything forward of them is not.

He recommended the scaling and root planing, and when 2 or more of my teeth fall out during that procedure, which he assured me they will, to replace them with bonded bridges. To the cool tune of $1200 a bridge.

My question becomes this: if I do get the scaling & root planing and 2 or more of my teeth do fall out and say I do get them replaced by bridges...all the while the bone in my mouth is melting away under the periodontal disease.

At what point will I have waited too long to act and there is now no longer any bone for a denture to hold onto? The first periodontist I saw made this point. Only now is it just sinking in. Dentures hold onto the bone in your mouth, right? Well my jaw bone is melting away, most especially in my lower front. The guy today said he thinks plaque & tartar must be the only things holding my front lower teeth in. You can clearly see on the x-ray the lack of any BONE around the bottoms of those teeth.

I think I may call the original periodontist again and get his perspective some more. I just don't see sinking $1200 bucks a pop into replacements if I am going to ruin any future chances of a denture by taking these temporary measures.

I also have an appointment with yet another periodontist on February 25th. I realize I am not going to find a dr. to tell me my teeth won't fall out: because they will. I just want to take the most effective action I can to ensure my ability to eat and talk well into my old age. I don't have a spare $3000 laying around, and if I spend the money I want it to be money well spent, not on a losing battle that obviates more spending.

its difficult to know what is best to you without looking the radiographs but you have to ask your dentist if the teeth that would support the bridge are hard(no mobility ) and have no deep pockets, if they have good prognosis the bridge is a good option . look if there is a perio -prosthesis specialist in your area that can help you

All of my teeth have deep pockets measuring 7-8 mm. Almost all of them have some degree of looseness also. All of the teeth around the ones they are almost certain will fall out during SRP are also loose.

I did call the original periodontist I saw and asked about having them all removed, but he didn't recommend that either.

It seems these dentists really want me to hold onto my original teeth, but my teeth do not share their idea!!

I don't want to sink thousands of dollars I do not have into a losing venture. I wish I could just find a dentist who will pull all my teeth and give me dentures right now!! Before all my jawbone is gone and a denture won't stay in.

for us ,dentist, in this modern times with all new technique in bone replacement theraphy it is very difficult to find a dentist that extract teeth without reasons , teeth are very important for our speech , digestive process and taste and appeareance having a complete denture is not a pleasant experience firt of all you can not have the same perception of taste, hot and cold because a lot part of your mouth will be covered by acrilic, second you can not eat hard things as you do with your natural teeth (its dificult for complete denture patients to bite an apple be) you have to learn how with your tounge and muscle maintain the dentures in place, you will have a feeling like is your mouth is entirely full with something hard and dont thing you will not loose bone ,you with loose more bone because if no teeth are present bone reabsorb faster. dentists study more than 6 years to cure disease and replace function of patients mouth if your dentist is telling you that you can preserve your teeth with ambulatory surgery do it , is the best you could do to preserve it and if periodontal disease is controlled bone loss stop

A very good friend of mine has full dentures since she's 24 yrs old. She is 48. She can bite an apple and eat corn on the cob and you'd never guess she has dentures. They fit her so well that she doesn't even have to use that glue junk.

Anyway, I won't be needing dentures.

And prdent, whoever you are, to suggest surgery without knowing a thing about my situation, is reckless and unethical.

I saw my 3rd and final periodontist today. He says I definitely DO NOT need surgery. He focused on something that NONE of the other periodontist focused on. The fact that I clench my teeth when I sleep. I have what he called Occlusive Periodontitis. I told all the other "doctors" this but none of them addressed it in their "treatment" (banking) plan.

This Doctor says I need a course of deep gum treatment, including subgingival antibiotics, 4 quadrant root scaling & planing and a bunch of other follow up care. He said I MAY possibly lose 4 teeth but even that is unlikely. He said it is not really as bad as the other idiots made it out to be. AND the best part is that this whole phase of the treatment will be about $2200 bucks. Not the eventual $8000 for flap surgery the other two steered me towards.

So as I suspected, the other "doctors" were trying to sell me UNECESSARY SURGERY just to line their pockets.

The sad fact is, that those other doctors are probably just not intelligent enough or motivated enough to keep up in their field. They tell people they need surgery, they use fear to sell unecessary medical treatment, and people jump for it. I wonder how many completely unecessary flap surgeries that other perio I saw does every year.

Enough to buy him that Porsche Carrera parked in the lot.

So if anyone out there reading this has gotten an opinion from a dentist or periodontist, SEEK ANOTHER ONE.

Keep seeking until what that doctor says strikes a chord in you that RINGS TRUE.

I had researched subgingival antibiotics and each dr I mentioned them to seemed alarmed that I knew about them. I flat out asked one of them if he never used subgingival antibiotics, or if they were just too cheap a solution for him to offer? The one guy answered that they don't work. And that if I didn't go with his idea, I'd be back in his office in a few years begging for implants.

The perio I went to today SPECIALIZES in implants - but never mentioned implants to me even once. He gave me hope, and a plan of action, and a reasonable price tag. Quite the opposite of what the others did, which was fill me with MORE fear.

Fear is a great tool of manipulation. It's a good thing I am past that stage of my life.

first of all let me tell you that there are a lot of different schools approve by the ADA that have differents theories of how to address periodontal problems and all theories are scientifically and clinically proved.
there are some dentist that address the periodontal problem by bone augmentation and remodel surgery,pocket elimination surgery and other minor surgicals technique and other dentist uses other methods
the majority of them uses is the root planning and curreteage technique for cleaning deep pockets. so the thing is there are not bad dentists and good dentists ,they're just using different methods to reach the same result(periodontal stabilization).
I personally prefer surgery phase because I have seen better results with it . and sorry if I offend you ,the thing is that I was trying to convince you that if there exist posibilities to retain your tooth dont think in the idea of getting them all extracted because maybe your friend could bite an apple but believe me there are many patients that cant,and its not the same to have plastic teeth than to have the teeth that God gave you

my teeth are perfect but losing them to peridontal disease.i have been advised to have all my teeth pulled.i know i have 2 very loose teeth,but the dentist said in the next year i will lose them all.guys please keep me informed of your treatments i really dont want dentures.i also told them i grind my teeth and always have them clenched due to stress can,t relax

hey i am 24 years old and am having the exact same problem as you right now. I have perfect teeth, all white and straight but have 7mm-8mm bone loss. I have been going to see different periodontists ever since my front tooth has gotten loose. I am extremely nervous. I went to see one just a few days ago and he said or a 24 year old girl I have a 60 year old lady's teeth. He was so surprised to see my teeth and he was so negative about them. Ever since I met that periodontist I have been extremel depressed and I do not know what the right treatment is for me. The periodontist said that my condition is so bad that I cannot even get implants. I would like to know how are your teeth now and what treatment are you on right now?

I am really anxious and hope to hear from you soon.

Less than 4 years ago, I noticed that my frontal tooth slid down and outward just a tiny bit so I went to an orthodontist to see if I could get invisalign. This orthodontist sent me to a dentist to check on my gums and bones. To my horror I, too, learned that I had 7mm pockets and advanced bone loss and could lose 7 teeth. The dentist referred me to a periodontist and there I was recommended to have flap surgery on both jaws. Despite that I was advised to pull out two of the teeth, I refused as I wanted to keep all mine for a while after the surgery.
The surgery cost around $4500. My insurance only covered $1500 and I paid the rest $3000 out of pocket.
My frontal tooth that has so much bone loss has been quite stable ever since but it is 1mm longer than the adjacent and worse, rotated a bit outward as well.
One of my molars continued to have trouble with a 7mm pocket so eventually, I opted to have it removed and place an implant there.
Now all my teeth are 2-3mm pockets (which is supposedly healthy) and a crown has been put on top of the implant. I could chew hard stuff and don't feel anything foreign in my mouth at all.
Who would've thought teeth could cost tens of thousands of dollars?

omg me 2 thought i was alone with this situation.i am 34 years old and have 2 loose teeth at the front,one sticks out wich makes me have a large overbite.its makin me feel down in myself.so i went to see my dentist and he said that if i had chronic periodontal treatment it may not work on the top teeth leaving me still having moderate periodontitis.so i asked if i had them pulled would that work.he said yes.i thought great atleast it will cure my issues.but now i have other issues and im terrified of having dentures.i do want lovely straight white teeth,but also want to still taste food and the tempretures.to makee things worse im terrified of the dentist.i just dont know what to do.

did you have surgery on those teeth? mine has very little bone left (i saw the x-ray) but the sliding seems having stopped and yes, i am also very conscious about it. i have been debating to pull it out and put in an implant or consult different orthodontists to see if it's possible to push it back in as the pocket now is just around 3mm.
do you have implant as an option? it's very expensive but the result is excellent.

i am only 20 and i have severe periodontal disease.
i don't have the wealthiest family and i just made it worse being really stupid these last 6 months. not looking after myself equals more money problems.
50 grand for implants..it's probably cheaper to die.