4 Advantages of Laser Therapy

If you consider that nearly half of adults age 30 or older in the United States — 46%, to be more precise — have some degree of gum disease and 9% have severe periodontitis, you realize that there are a lot of unhealthy gums out there.

As dental health experts who’ve devoted our careers to periodontal disease, the team here at Baton Rouge Perio, including Dr. Barry Biner, Dr. Jenny Herman, and Dr. Kenneth Markle, make sure we’ve got the tools you need to fight back against gum disease. 

One such tool — laser therapy — is making a big difference, thanks to the many advantages that come with this advanced and innovative approach to gum health. 

Let’s take a look at four of these advantages:

1. More precision and accuracy

When we use the term, “laser focus,” it’s to describe an intense and targeted focus, which perfectly describes our laser therapy. The technology we use offers next-level precision and accuracy — the laser beam is about the size of three human hairs.

This targeted beam of energy allows us to clear away diseased or unwanted gum tissue only, leaving surrounding tissues intact.

2. Less pain and bleeding

Since laser therapy is less invasive than using traditional surgical techniques which cut into your tissues, you experience less pain and less bleeding.

In fact, we don’t need to use general anesthesia, as local anesthetics are perfectly capable of handling any discomfort during your laser therapy.

3. Less risk of infection

With laser therapy, there’s generally less risk of infection, for a couple of reasons. First, we’re not using a knife to clear away gum tissues. With traditional gum surgery, there's more tissue damage and opportunity for harmful bacteria to make their way inside.

Second, the laser not only excises diseased or unwanted gum tissues in your mouth, it also sterilizes the site at the same time. 

4. Improved healing and regeneration

This advantage of laser therapy is one of the most important. With laser technology, our goal isn’t just to remove unwanted gum tissue, but to leave behind an environment that promotes healing and regeneration.

For example, when we remove diseased gum tissue, we use the LANAP® procedure, which stands for laser-assisted new attachment procedure. First, we clear away diseased gum tissue, but the laser energy also stimulates your regenerative and healing processes. This spurs not only new gum growth, but it also encourages bones and ligaments to remodel and regenerate.

Thanks to the advantages we mention above — lower risk of infection, less bleeding, and an oral environment that promotes regeneration — you may even heal faster after laser gum therapy than you would after gum surgery.

If you want to explore whether you might benefit from laser gum therapy, we invite you to contact our office in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to schedule a consultation with one of our experienced and skilled periodontists.