Pasadena Texas Laser Dentistry:
Lasers have many advantages. I always want to offer my patients the most advanced dental care. Two new procedures we will be offering are: a) Fever Blister/Cold Sore prevention and elimination b) Bacterial Reduction.
1. Fever Blisters / Cold Sores are caused by viral infections. These lesions are extremely embarrassing as they appear on the lips. The laser therapy can help sufferers of these lesions in two ways. a)If you feel the onset of a fever blister (itching and burning) call our office immediately. Dr. Nugent can use the laser to inactivate the virus before it cause the unsightly fever blister. b) If you have an active fever blister I can use the laser to deactivate the virus and start the healing process.
2. Laser Bacterial Reduction. We are constantly learning and striving to advance the standard of patient care in our office. As such, we have recently added a new procedure to your routine cleaning care to help fight periodontal disease.
Periodontal disease (gum disease) affects approximately 80% of adults and is a growing epidemic in our society. The understanding of this disease has increased greatly over the last few years. We now know that Periodontal Disease is a BACTERIAL INFECTION in the pockets around teeth. Therefore, we are now treating Periodontal Disease not only by the removal of mechanical irritants and diseased tissue (your normal cleaning), but are also addressing the underlying infection that causes periodontal disease. With that thought in mind, we recommend that all of our patients have their teeth decontaminated with LASER THERAPY at the beginning of cleaning appointments for three major reasons.
A. To kill periodontal disease bacteria and stop infections before they cause physical destruction (loss of bone) or loss of attachment (gum tissue pulling away from the teeth).
B. To prevent cross contamination and the spread of infections in one area of your mouth to other areas. The laser decontamination helps prevent isolated gum infections from spreading to healthy areas.
C. To reduce or eliminate bacteremias (bacteria entering the blood stream). During the normal cleaning process, most patients will have some areas that may bleed. This allows bacteria present in one’s mouth to flood into the bloodstream. Research shows that these oral pathogens are linked to a number of diseases such as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, low birth weight babies, diabetes etc. Needless to say, anything that we can do to reduce or eliminate bacteremia is a positive for our patients.
The laser decontamination process is painless and normally takes about 5 minutes. We highly recommend that you take advantage of this service as part of your routine cleaning.