Pinhole Surgical Technique
While ensuring that people have clean and white teeth, gum care and its hygiene are often neglected. Most people ignore the fact that healthy gums are essential to prevent tooth loss as we age, so it's crucial to make sure our gums stay healthy as well.
Gum recession is a severe condition that affects our gums and is marked by the movement of the gums from their original position, thus exposing the tooth roots susceptible to decay and infection.
Gum recession occurs due to the following reasons:
- Aging
- Overaggressive brushing
- Bruxism or teeth grinding
- Use of tobacco
- Advanced periodontal disease
Until recent times, an invasive procedure called gum grafting was the primary option to treat receding gums, and this procedure involved grafting the soft tissue obtained from the patient's palate, cheek, or from a donor source in the area over the exposed tooth root. At Point Loma Family Dentistry, we now perform the Chao Pinhole Surgical Technique, a minimally invasive alternative to gum grafting to repair gum tissue.
What is Chao Pinhole Surgical Technique?
The Pinhole Surgical Technique helps restore gums to their natural position painlessly and much faster without the need for any suture or incision. The dentist creates a few small "pinholes" in the soft, pliable tissue located above or beneath the exposed tooth during the procedure. They use these pinholes as access points to loosen and reposition the recessed gum tissues to protect the exposed root with the help of specially designed instruments. We then place collagen strips in the gum tissue to hold gums in place and enable fast healing.
The Pinhole Surgical Technique is moderately painless and offers a faster and long-term solution to receding gums.
The benefits offered by Pinhole Surgical Technique include the following:
- Non-invasive procedure - no scalpels, invasive surgical tools, no cutting, no stitches
- Instantly visible results
- Minimal patient pain or discomfort
- Short treatment time
- Rapid recovery period than traditional grafting
- Lower risk of infection after the treatment
- No need to obtain donor tissue from the patient's palate
- Excellent, natural-looking, long-lasting results
Since healthy and strong gums are important to have a healthy oral cavity, it is essential to get gum recession treated to maintain optimum oral health and lasting dental wellness. At Point Loma Family Dentistry, Dr. Louis E. Paulerio has the expertise and experience to offer Pinhole Gum Rejuvenation to his patients to offer the most advanced and painless dental procedures.
