No one single dental treatment can cure anything, but LANAP comes as close as it gets. With the incorporation of soft tissue laser therapy in our periodontal offices in Conroe and The woodlands, our doctors at PCE can enhance the effectiveness of typical periodontal treatments and drastically improve their long-term results.
LANAP is a soft tissue laser treatment that can eliminate up to about 100% of the infectious bacteria inside of someone’s gums (including already diseased or dying tissues) and stimulate new regeneration of gums and bone. When combined with conventional periodontal services, LANAP offers the best care and outcome for managing chronic gum disease.
When we pair LANAP with services like deep cleanings (periodontal scaling and root planing), it’s possible to bypass conventional flap surgery, shorten overall treatment time, and achieve better results when it comes to retaining natural teeth. LANAP isn’t used by itself, but as a partner with traditional tissue therapy it offers the best potential outcome for your smile. It could mean the difference when it comes to deciding whether to have to extract any remaining teeth.
Understanding LANAP: What is It?
“LANAP” is an acronym for “laser assisted new attachment procedure.” Our doctors at PCE have been using LANAP therapies for over a decade, providing revolutionary and non-invasive care to our patients in the Conroe and The Woodlands areas.
LANAP started out as an experimental procedure with soft tissue lasers. In time, it became a go-to procedure for treating aggressive periodontal disease. Our doctors at PCE have been using the technology for several years because of how well it works for our patients.
In fact, one of the first periodontists to adopt the use of LANAP was our practice. While serving on faculty at several different dental schools, he met several practitioners who used dental lasers and were influential in developing treatments related to soft tissue care. LANAP founders, Dr Robert Gregg and Dr Del McCarthy, were involved in creating the LANAP protocol. Dr Ray Yukna, Chairman of the University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine established the scientific proof that LANAP was successful at treating advance periodontal disease. He had networked and worked with Dr Yukna. He saw the firsthand results of how LANAP was transforming the health of real-life patients. However, many periodontists remained skeptical of LANAP. Dr Yukna’s 2007 histology studies proved unequivocally that LANAP was essentially the “holy grail” that periodontists had been looking for, in that it could help regenerate bone around the teeth. This monumental scientific standpoint was a turning point for laser dentistry. Following publication of this landmark study, he flew to Colorado to take a hands-on LANAP course form Dr Yukna, who continues to be one of his good friends to this day.
Our periodontal specialty practice in Conroe and The Woodlands has just incorporated a newer laser procedure that’s similar to LANAP, known as the Fotona TwinLight Procedure. Although the two are quite similar, there are a few small differences when it comes to how they work and what they offer our patients. However, most people are familiar with the LANAP name, as it has been around for much longer. Both use laser technology, but different types of lasers are built into the newer protocol.
Conroe Laser Alternatives to Gum Surgery
LANAP and laser gum treatments are one of the top procedures that we offer in our Conroe office, and it’s no surprise why. The advanced technique allows our doctors at PCE to bypass conventional gum surgeries like flap cleanings or retraction, which used to be necessary for combatting aggressive gum disease.
Since dental lasers can be used in combination with our periodontal microscope, it’s possible for our periodontal-focused hygiene team to clean deep below the gum surfaces without ever physically retracting them to expose the roots. As a result, you don’t have to endure unnecessary gum surgery.
With a traditional gum retraction (aka “flap surgery”) the gums used to be sectioned and then pulled back, revealing the full surface of the tooth that wasn’t still embedded in the bone. After a physical cleaning was performed, the gum tissues were draped back over the tooth and then sutured in place. Following the gum surgery, an intraoral dressing (similar to a medicated putty or bandage) was shaped over the sutured areas while the gums healed. Needless to say, the procedure was lengthy and could be slower to recover from.
Fortunately, lasers like Fotona and LANAP eliminate the need for such harsh measures. Instead, experts can clean away all of the harsh, infectious bacteria without traumatizing the soft tissue covering your teeth. Laser gum therapy is highly successful and can eliminate as many as 80% of gum surgery cases in our office. While there is still sometimes a need for surgical strategies in periodontal care, they are fewer and farther between.
What are the Benefits of LANAP in The Woodlands?
There are some pretty big advantages when it comes to choosing LANAP or laser gum treatment over conventional procedures. Here are some of the most significant:
It Generates New Bone Growth — Over the course of the last several decades, dental researchers found that it was very difficult to stimulate the body to grow new bone structure.
That is, until now.
When LANAP was discovered to generate new bone, it drastically changed everything in modern dental care. Since bone loss is essentially the primary factor that causes periodontal-induced tooth loss, being able to reverse the disease process meant the possibility of not losing your teeth at all!
Some people say that gum disease runs in their family, or since their parents lost their teeth at a young age, they will too. LANAP changes that. It stops the process of infectious bone loss so that you have a stable, healthy foundation to retain your teeth for several more years (or even a lifetime!)
It Facilitates Reattachment Between Your Gums and Teeth — Aside from regenerating new bone, dental laser treatment like LANAP and TwinLight help to initiate coagulation between the newly exposed healthy tissue cells and the porous surface of tooth roots.
