If you have been diagnosed with advanced periodontal disease, you need to take action right away to save your gums and your teeth. When it comes to treatment options, you need to take into consideration the time you have to dedicate toward the therapy and recovery period. Here is a quick breakdown of the treatment and recovery times for the three most common ways to treat periodontal disease. 

Laser Therapy Treatment

With laser therapy, most individuals only need to undergo either one or two treatment sessions. The number of sessions that you have to undergo depends on how advanced your periodontal disease is and how much of your mouth your dentist needs to treat. Most sessions only last a couple of hours at most. 

The recovery process from laser therapy treatment is very mild. You will be able to drive after you leave the office and you could even go back to work if you like. You will not have to deal with stitches or bleeding gums because your gums will not have been cut. Laser therapy is the least invasive way to treat periodontal disease. For more information, visit http://www.neufamilydental.com or a similar website.

Pocket Elimination Surgery

Another option when you have advanced periodontal disease is pocket elimination surgery. For this procedure, you are put under local anesthesia and an incision is made into your gums. This allows your periodontist to remove the infection that is hiding inside of your gum.

The procedure itself does not take very long. Depending on your unique needs, it is generally completed within a couple of hours. However, the recovery process usually takes about a week. You will not want to return to work or regular activities for at least a day in order to allow your gum to heal and to lessen your discomfort. Your mouth may feel sore and sensitive during this time. You will have sutures inside of your mouth that will have to be removed after about a week has passed. 

Bone Regeneration & Guided Tissue Regeneration

Your third option is guided tissue regeneration therapy, which is a surgical procedure that is minimally invasive. Once again, the procedure itself takes a couple of hours. 

Following your surgery, generally you are prescribed pain medication that you can take for the next day in order to help you deal with the pain and help the recovery process. You should expect to take the day off and perhaps the day following your surgery off from work.  You will also need to take an antibiotic to ward off the possibility of an infection. 

You may experience swelling and will need to apply an ice-pack to your face to reduce the swelling. Your gums may also bleed following the procedure. You will want to avoid extremely hot or cold foods immediately following your surgery. For the week after your surgery, you will want to stick to eating softer foods, and avoid anything that is hard, crunchy, spicy, salty or acidic.