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Death Of Barbaric Treatment Of Periodontal Disease

Did you have a dentist look you straight in the eye and tell you that because you had receding gums, and had periodontal disease, the ONLY treatment was to CUT away the gums, presumbly to "get down" to the healthy tissue, and then lay a guilt trip on you that you had not been visiting the dentist often enough and certainly not flossing or cleaning your teeth properly -- so that you caused the gum disease with your lack of care.

So, you had your gums cut, it hurt, and a few years later the gums were in even worse shape, despite your getting an electric tooth brush, a Water Pic and using floss every day.

The obviously barbaric former treatment of cutting your gums has now given way to a very expensive new drug "inserted" between your gums and your teeth -- an antibiotic that will kill the bad bacteria in your gums -- the same bacteria that cause heart disease and strokes.

And, by the way, even if you have been flossing every day, using a Water Pic and electric tooth brush, you have not visited your dentist for cleaning often enough and/or you are miserably failing to follow whatever practice the dentist can find you guilty of.

So they don't even use the word "periodontal" anymore -- that word is still associated with the old barbarism of taking the knife to cut the gums. Now they don't use a knife, but a gentle "plastic tipped "non-needle'" to lay in the powdered Arestin antiobiotic at some $300 per tooth.

Oh, they make a big thing of it -- they take as much time as they can to make you think the $300 is OK, and no insurance will pay for it, but you will pay if you don't want the knife!

Back when MY dentist insisted I have my gums cut because of "deep pockets" and my wife actually had about 1/4 of her gums cut (with great pain and no gain) I got my Water Pic and electric tooth brush and started what I thought was a much better pattern of tooth care.

Not enough for the dentist who wanted to lay a $7,000 bill on me on June 19, 2007. I won't be going back to him.

Here is a report that is typical as far as the anger shown by the patient --

Questions & Answers with a Periodontal Patient  7/16/01

Source

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(The following is a compilation of correspondence I had this morning...)

I had periodontal surgery on the upper right quadrant of my mouth about 10 days ago.  These teeth were not in bad shape, but my dentist recommended a periodontist after deep root scaling made no difference in the pockets.

My teeth are fairly nice looking, but not now.  The surgery raised the gums on two of my teeth up to the neck of the tooth and left some unsightly spaces between my front teeth.  I am so mad.  The periodontist drilled away a lot of the bone behind my last tooth and left me with a bone spur in the
back of my mouth.  For this, I still owe him about $300 that my dental plan won't cover!  I feel like he should pay me for the damage!

When he took the protective covering off my teeth, on Friday, I almost cried.
I asked him if the gum would regenerate between my teeth and he said no, but no one would notice.  I WILL NOTICE.  I am very discouraged and will
never go back.  If my teeth ever get bad enough, I'll get dental implants rather than go to a periodontist again.

NO one tells you that periodontal surgery makes your teeth look ridiculous. It raises the gums to unnatural heights; It opens all sorts of spaces between teeth and leaves new room for decay.  What a rip off!  I'm very sorry I went in to have this done.  I was deceived by the periodontist and the dentist.  But its all about money for them. They don't care if you like
the results or not.

I would advise people to do ANYTHING to avoid periodontal surgery.  Its just
not worth it.
 

1) How thoroughly did the Dentist and Periodontist discuss the procedure and
outcome with you before you had the surgery?

The dentist who did the root scaling mentioned how the periodontal procedure is done (they will peel back the gums and do some scraping... they may need to do some bone grafting... They might put you on some antibiotics...", etc.) He never mentioned the high gums, and new areas for tooth decay.

The periodontist was not very communicative at all and seemed reluctant to discuss the whole thing too much.  He made it sound like he was "Saving my
teeth".  In fact, after the surgery he smugly said he thought he could save my teeth (even though they weren't in that much danger to begin with).

I asked him before the surgery if the gums would look natural and he said they would be a little higher, but that happens naturally anyway. I told him I didn't want my front teeth done, only the two back teeth.

However, he did two of my front teeth anyway.  I didn't feel it while he was doing it so I didn't know until afterwards.

The extreme nature of the gum suturing didn't dawn on me until after surgery when I pealed back a bit of the protective covering to see my front teeth
and was shocked to see that he had 1) operated on my front teeth and 2) left such a space between the teeth.  I got on the internet and looked at some
examples of other people who had had gum surgery and was shocked to see how LONG the back teeth were.
 

2) Did they discuss costs?

They did discuss costs.  I knew I would owe about $300, but hey, all these experts are telling you its essential
 

3) How long after the original dentist did the deep root scaling did he
recommend seeing a periodontist?

I had the root scaling done late last year (November & December). In February, I went back and the scaling had made ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE IN MY POCKETS.  Not one iota.  But it cost my insurance a lot of money to get it done.

4) Did he tell you that he expected the scaling would shrink the pockets?

Yes

5) Did he discuss procedures to follow at home to aid this?

Just flossing and brushing

6) Did he recommend any sort of anti-infective therapy or other treatments that you could apply at home or that you could come back to the office to have done to shrink the pockets?

No home remedies were discussed, but I asked the periodontist about antibiotic therapy and he said that the benefits from such would only be temporary and the infection would come back.

7)  Did he explain to you why the pockets had developed in the first place?

Yes

I do hope this helps someone.  People are so vulnerable to getting sucked into the dental maze when they are told they have periodontal disease...
It is certainly a way for dentist and periodontist to bankroll.
 

In addition, as people turn 40, all sorts of tests become medically advisable - mammograms yearly, colonoscopy, more frequent dental cleanings,
aches and pains, etc.  I have been to the doctor and dentist 4 times in the last 10 days.  I am discouraged with the high maintenance of the body and mouth after 40.

In short, we are forced to deal with our mortality in a very unpleasant way after age 40. I don't want to be one of those old folks who spends most of their time at the doctor and dentist and pharmacy. I see them all the time.

Of all the helping professions, the ones I am most skeptical about deal with the mouth - dentists, oral surgeons, periodontist, orthodontists,
implantologists, etc.  They seem to always find something else to fix at an enormous price.  They use scare tactics to make you buy into their programs
- "you'll lose that tooth if you don't do something..."  By the end of your life you can spend thousands of dollars on one tooth in fillings and refillings, deep cleanings, straightening, surgeries, etc. and still end up losing the tooth.  Its a racket.

My dentist mentioned he had gone to a meeting of dentists where they discussed how much they could get (my insurance) to cover. It sounded fishy to me.  In the mean time, lots of people don't get the dental
care they need because of the extreme cost.

Not to mention the web of referral fees... My dentist referred my daughter to an oral surgeon to get her wisdom teeth extracted.  I ended up paying a
pretty penny beyond what the insurance paid.  I found out later that the surgeon he referred me to charged $100 more PER TOOTH than most other
surgeons.  I should have shopped around.

Then I talked to my periodontist about implants, and he was pretty negative. He asked me how I had chosen an implantologist and started badmouthing the guy even though he knew nothing about him.  He wanted me to go to some dentist he knew - probably so he could get the referral fee.

So I ask you, is it any wonder why people are fed up and skeptical? Granted, there are also a lot of people who have bought into the "Dentist as hero" school and think their dentist or periodontist is wonderful for "Saving" their teeth.

I guess I sound a little bitter on this subject.

This type of surgery was and is barbaric, but now that some drug has arrived to save the day there will undoubtedly be less of it. How long might it take for the new drug to be discovered to be harmful??

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