The Placerville Dental Group often discusses gum recession and how to avoid it. With gum recession, the gums pull away from the teeth and expose the roots. At this point, treatment is necessary to prevent serious dental complications, like tooth loss! In the past, this often meant restoring the gums by grafting via oral surgery. Most patients shy away from this option for understandable reasons — no one likes to hear the word “surgery” when it applies to their own mouth! So the Placerville Dental Group uses the pinhole surgical technique to treat gum recession, eliminating the need for gum grafts.
Pinhole surgical technique (PST) starts by creating small holes just above the gumline. A tiny probe is then inserted into these holes in the gum tissue. The gums are then lifted, stretched and returned to their normal location, thus protecting the roots. The gum pocket created by this technique is filled with a biomaterial that holds the gum in place. The material is simply reabsorbed by your body as the gums heal over just a few days. The entire PST procedure only takes twenty to thirty minutes, far less time than the extractions and dental restorations that are eventually required without the treatment!
Pinhole Technique versus Grafts
There are more reasons why our Placerville dentists prefer PST to traditional grafting. A tissue graft procedure requires two surgery sites — one site to remove healthy gum tissue for the graft and the site of the gum repair. PST requires only small holes in the gums, with no suturing or cutting.
Tissue grafts require more time to heal, usually two to three weeks. PST healing time averages about a week, with no special recovery time needed.
More teeth may be treated with PST — ten or more. Tissue grafts usually repair one to three teeth at a time. This saves the patient not only time, but money.
Patients report more pain after graft surgery, whereas PST patients have little to no pain after their procedure.
Finally, tissue graft surgery takes about ninety minutes versus thirty minutes for PST.
If All Else Fails
Before suggesting a PST procedure, our Placerville dentists work with you to resolve the causes of your gum recession. We treat any gingivitis or periodontitis to eradicate inflammation and bacterial infection. If the results are insufficient, or the disease too far progressed, the PST procedure is recommended. For more information about the pinhole surgical technique to repair gum recession with little to no pain, contact our Placerville Dental office today!
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