5 Reasons You May Benefit from Laser Gum Surgery

Gum surgery isn’t a single procedure. You might need a procedure to clear away gum disease (periodontitis) or to rebuild gum tissue. Cosmetically, surgery can treat a gummy smile. As a versatile way to perform this range of procedures, there's the LANAP® laser system.

At Gables Sedation Dentistry, we’re proud to offer LANAP treatments to our patients. We believe it’s the best contemporary alternative to traditional gum surgery techniques across a wide range of procedures. The difference often comes down to the advantages that you’ll enjoy as a patient. 

Today, let’s look at five reasons you may benefit from gum surgery performed with the LANAP laser system. 

Challenges of conventional techniques

Traditional gum surgery treatments use incisions and sutures to cut and repair gum tissue, regardless of the procedure being performed. While modern dental anesthetics keep your treatment pain-free, these surgical incisions have a long healing time during which your gum tissue could remain sore. 

These methods also affect healthy gum tissue in the treatment areas. This is necessary due to the inefficiencies of manual cutting and stitching tools. Sutures must anchor into healthy tissue to effectively close surgical wounds. 

The LANAP difference

Instead of cutting, the LANAP laser vaporizes tissue with tightly focused light energy, providing a level of precision unmatched by metal scalpels and other cutting tools. LANAP removes only the target tissue, minimally affecting healthy gums surrounding the treated area. This critical difference leads to the five benefits you’ll enjoy after a LANAP procedure. 

1. Less bleeding

Since LANAP vaporizes tissue instead of cutting, gum tissue instantly cauterizes as it’s reshaped with laser light. This dramatically reduces the amount of bleeding associated with gum surgery. There’s no longer a need to close surgical wounds, since blood vessels seal off as LANAP treats gum tissue.

2. Reduced complications

Using traditional methods, wounds in gum tissue remain open as a dentist does the work. Stitching happens at the end of this process, meaning that your gums are open to infection during your procedure. Since LANAP seals blood vessels as it removes or reshapes tissue, the risk of infection and other complications plummets.

3. Minimal damage

As we’ve already seen, the precision of a laser device preserves more healthy gum tissue. With typical cutting and stitching, the amount of tissue potentially causing pain includes surrounding gums. Less affected tissue improves your experience in the dentist’s chair and continues into recovery. 

4. Fast recovery

LANAP’s advantages tumble like dominoes, one benefit leading into the next. Reduced gum damage from treatment means that your mouth heals faster. It’s as simple as that. Just as a small cut or scrape heals more quickly than a larger version, so too will your gum surgery when performed with the LANAP laser. 

5. Fewer long-term effects

Conventional gum surgery for periodontitis exposes much of the tooth root during the procedure. While this is closed with stitches at the end of the treatment, it’s possible you’ll have tooth sensitivities that last for days or weeks after your appointment. Since LANAP exposes only the portion of the root under the direct treatment area, you’ve got a better chance of sidestepping tooth sensitivity. 

Find out more about gum surgery using the LANAP system with a visit to the laser surgery experts at Gables Sedation Dentistry. We accept appointments booked online or by phone at our Miami, Florida, office. Schedule your visit today.