Guided Bone & Tissue Regeneration

The ideal outcome in the treatment of periodontal disease is to return the tissue to their original sate as they were before the infection started. While we cannot do this with all cases today more and more pockets can be restored as least partially, with regenerative surgery. There are two primary types of regenerative surgery:

1. Bone Grafting

   The oldest techniques used in regeneration surgery calls for placing various materials in the bone defect, to stimulate the patient’s bone to re-grow. Bone grafting has been used for over 75 years, but today’s materials are much superior in stimulating new bone to form. The implanted material is resorbed by the body and after 6-12 months will have completely disappeared and will be replaced with new bone. Various materials are available with the selection make on a case by case basis.

2. Guided Tissue Regeneration

   A more recently developed type of regenerative surgery depends on guiding the proper tissue to heal the periodontal lesions. Gum tissue heals very quickly and after surgery migrates down into the bone pocket quickly. Unfortunately, this does not allow time for the bone to refill the pocket, so the defect persists. With guided tissue regeneration, the gum tissue is excluded from the bone defect with a resorbable membrane, allowing time for the bone to fill back in. This technique has been available for 18 years and in certain areas is extremely predictable.