Severe Peridontal Disease - Help. Advice please. LANAP laser thoughts?

[floralia]

I have peridontal disease. It has caused some of my front teeth to migrate to the point where one of my lateral incisors has moved forwards out of place and sticks out to the front at around a 12 degree angle. It has also caused a gap in my teeth between it and the canine. I have deep pockets at the back of my mouth. I don't drink. I quit smoking 14 years ago before things got bad. I clean my teeth twice a day and use interdental brushes. I suffer quite badly with long term stress and anxiety. I eat a reasonably healthy diet. Dental caries are not a problem and my teeth themselves are all in great condition.

I have been going to 2 separate NHS dentists and all they do is a root clean once then they say that if I want it done again that I have to see their hygienist at £60 a session. I am not working and in receipt of income based ESA at present so there is very little money and certainly not £60 worth at the end of the month.

Someone told me that I should be entitled to under the gum cleaning on the NHS as it is covered by the NHS if you have peridontal disease but the dentists I have seen are really reluctant to help. Nobody seems to have any input over further treatment and I feel that I am just left for it to get worse and worse.

If I could afford private dental treatment then I would as I don't believe my teeth would have been allowed to shift the way they have given that they were straight when I started gum treatments. No word about splinting or anything other than cleaning with a private session. At an early stage I actually had pus coming from under the gum where my tooth has moved and I was told it was nothing to worry about and just gargle with salt water. It didn't sort it.

The problems I have are this:

1. I feel I need to see a dentist who has special experience of periodontal disease but I have no idea how to go about finding one on the NHS.

1. Is gum cleaning really only available if I pay privately despite advanced Periodontal disease?

1. When I do start work again, I am interested in looking into the new LANAP laser treatments and if anyone has had it, could you tell me what you thought and if it worked?

1. I think that my gum disease isn't just down to the usual poor hygiene cause though I accept that smoking all those years ago didn't help. My teeth were not moving when I first sought help but progressively they have got worse. I wonder if that is because I have just been seeing general dentists? I think my gum disease could have a genetic component as there are auto-immune diseases in my family (mother) and I myself suffer from eczema.

How do I go about finding a specialist NHS dentist. I genuinely don't have money for private treatment at the moment but this makes me so unhappy. I have lost a lot of confidence and haven't smiled for a photo in over 12 years. I feel really self conscience. My teeth are good but the foundations are not and I don't feel that I am being helped properly.

Can anyone advise please? All hints and tips are also very welcome. Thank you.

No experience of periodontal disease, but I think the key to your situation would be consistently seeing the same dentist who can treat and monitor the condition. If you need referred to a gum specialist, they should be able to do that. Finding a person you are comfortable with and trust is probably the most important thing.

I had a nightmare period with my teeth a few years back, which turned out not to be my actual teeth at all, but a form of neuralgia, and my (NHS) dentist referred me to a maxillo-facial specialist after I trotted back and forth to her in pain for months, with her never finding any clinical cause for the pain. I now see her every three months for a checkup, mainly for my own peace of mind because the nerve pain shifts about from tooth to tooth. I am very lucky to have an excellent dentist who I trust 100% - there are great ones out there!

Floralia - I have just read your post and everything that you have written describes my current situation - you could be me! I actually started a thread on here just last week about my own periodontal disease - I have had awful receeding gums for a number of years through bad genetics, bruxism, pregnancy and such awful stress. So I visited my dentist a couple of months ago as I do every six months and whilst examining me he just comes out and says that I will eventually lose a number of teeth, I was utterly shocked as I didn't know my problem was this bad, infact I didn't even know that I had periodontal disease at all I just happened to notice the words 'chronic perio' on my X-Ray form, my dentist has never, ever mentioned this to me and has never referred me to a periodontist or even deep cleaning. I wish I could afford to get some help privately but I'm currently not working as I have to look after my disabled husband so money is really scarce, if I could afford it I would love to have laser therapy or pinhole surgery but I'm not in a position to do that and I also can't afford to visit the hygienist for deep cleaning, I am in such a state over this, and I literally can't function it has really devastated me. My teeth are actually fine and I have always had such lovely compliments on my teeth. I wish I could offer you more support or advice but I am just as lost as you as to what the next step is, and I am so afraid but if you ever want to chat or swap stories on this horrible problem please feel free to message me. I really hope you are ok and find some help with what to do next. You are not alone xx

I think they have NHS dental hospitals, perhaps try there.

I've had laser treatment for chronic genetic periodontal disease, it's reduced my pocket sizes from 5s and 6s to 1s and 2s (normal). It's expensive though but may be available through dental hospitals. You have the right to be referred to an NHS dental hospital for treatment. There nearest to me is the dental hospital at Leeds but there are others around the UK. Do some research via the General Dental Council website under Periodontal Specialists, it will give you the names of the specialists and which hospitals they are affiliated to. Good luck

I'm a dentist. What struck me strange is you say you see two different dentists? Why is that? That is odd? You should be seeing the same one all the time who can monitor the situation? If you do there should be a paper trail. There will be a measurement taken of your gums on each appointment ( BPE at the very least, but there will possibly be 6 point pocket charts).
Next time you are in I would get your dentist ( the one you have been seeing the longest) to show you these measurements, and also the historical measurements and explain them to you, so you can see the progress of the disease, and highlight the concern ing areas.
I agree that there are NHS dental hospitals and you could be referred, but in my experience in my location they tend to only see cases where there are underlying complicated illnesses...
your own dentist should be trained anyway to deal with periodontal disease. I would ask for a four visit deep scale/root planing under local anaesthetic under the NHS ( if that is what the dentist thinks you need).

Truthfully once bone is lost, it can't grown back naturally so even with fancy private "lasers" and what have you, it's very unlikely you will recover.
However with good oral hygiene and stabilisation the situation can halt and won't get worse.
The years of smoking will have contributed to this...

The laser treatment can't give you back the lost bone that's true but in my case it's made a huge difference to the health of my gums. Despite visiting the dentist regularly for scaling and root planing all that was achieved was that the disease stayed stable. It's only with the lasers that my gum pockets have improved so much as also don't bleed anymore. This treatment should be available under the NHS it's awful that this technology is available and people can't benefit unless they can pay out a lot of money.

www.gdc-uk.org

And then go to the Search Registers.
Sorry no good at clicky links

Hi, I am looking into laser treatment
How much did it cost if you don't me asking?