Periodontal Therapy in Summit & Westfield NJ

If you have red or swollen gums, pain, or loose teeth, you may have periodontal disease. To relieve your pain and renew your smile, reach out to Dental Studios, with locations in Summit and Westfield, New Jersey, to find out if periodontal therapy can help you. Led by Dr. Daniel I. Butensky , Dental Studios can help you regain your gum health, no matter the stage of your periodontal disease. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation, call or use the online booking tool today.

What is periodontal therapy?

Periodontal therapy is the treatment offered to those with any form of periodontal disease. Periodontal diseases are infections that impact the structures that hold your teeth in place, including your gums, your periodontal ligaments, and your alveolar bone.

When people refer to periodontal disease, they most often mean gum diseases including:

  • Gingivitis
  • Peri-implant mucositis
  • Peri-implantitis, and periodontal disease
  • Aggressive periodontitis
  • Chronic periodontitis
  • Necrotizing periodontal disease

Gum disease develops when you permit plaque, a sticky bacteria, to build up on your teeth and harden. If you don’t intervene, gum disease eventually destroys your gums and teeth.

What are the symptoms of gum disease?

Gum disease causes varying symptoms, such as:

  • Swollen, tender, or puffy gums
  • Bleeding gums
  • Red or purplish gums
  • Bad breath
  • Pus between the teeth and gums
  • Loose or lost teeth
  • New spaces in between teeth
  • Painful chewing
  • Gum recession
  • Change in how your teeth line up when you bite

Also, untreated periodontal disease is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and respiratory illnesses

How does periodontal therapy work?

Periodontal therapy works in phases, which Dental Studios adjusts according to your periodontal health.

Phase one

During phase one of periodontal therapy, your team focuses on controlling your infection by finding its source and addressing it. Controlling your infection is a team effort and involves work on your part as well as your Dental Studios team.

To help you do your part, the practice explains why your periodontal health is suffering, and what changes you need to make to stop its advances, such as improving your oral hygiene or smoking cessation.

In turn, Dental Studios offers non-surgical treatments like scaling and root planing, which is a procedure in which your team meticulously removes plaque and tartar from deep periodontal pockets and smooths your tooth roots to banish bacterial toxins.

They may supplement this treatment with add-on therapies, like antibiotics.

Phase two

If non-surgical therapy isn’t enough, or your infection is too deep to clean, Dental Studios may suggest you move to surgical periodontal therapy.

To surgically treat periodontal disease, your team may perform specified surgeries, such as gum graft surgery or extraction.

During this procedure, your team harvests healthy gum tissue from somewhere like the roof of your mouth and grafts it where gingivitis has forced your gum line to recede. After a successful gum graft surgery, your healthy tissue either covers exposed tooth roots or develops new gum tissue.

If Dental Studios cannot save your teeth, the practice can extract your damaged teeth, and replace them with dental implant restorations, a bridge, or dentures.

Phase three

The third phase and final phase of periodontal therapy is maintenance, during which it’s your job to make sure that your periodontal disease doesn’t come back. You do so by observing good oral hygiene habits.

Don’t let poor periodontal health take over your life. Instead, seek out periodontal therapy with the gifted team at Dental Studios online or over the phone today.

FAQs About Periodontal Therapy

How do I know if I have gum disease?

Common warning signs include bleeding gums when you brush or floss, persistent bad breath, gum recession, loose teeth, and swollen or tender gums. Many patients don’t notice symptoms until gum disease has advanced, which is why regular check-ups are so important. We screen for periodontal disease at every exam

Deep cleaning procedures like scaling and root planing are performed with local anesthesia, so you shouldn’t feel pain during treatment. Some tenderness afterward is normal and typically resolves within a few days. Patients are often surprised at how manageable the experience is.

The earliest stage of gum disease — gingivitis — can be fully reversed with professional cleaning and improved home care. More advanced periodontitis can be managed and stabilized, but the tissue and bone loss that occurs at that stage is generally not reversible. Early treatment makes a significant difference.

It depends on the severity of your condition. Many patients see significant improvement after one or two scaling and root planing sessions, followed by more frequent maintenance visits — typically every 3–4 months instead of the standard six months. We’ll create a plan tailored to your specific needs.

Most dental insurance plans cover periodontal therapy when it’s deemed medically necessary. Coverage percentages and annual limits vary, but our team will check your benefits and help you understand your out-of-pocket responsibility before any treatment begins.