Periodontitis 90% bone loss

[hopefulone1]

Hi,  I am a 36 years old.  I have recently been diagnosed with 90% bone loss in every tooth in my mouth.  I went to the dentist because I found some loose teeth in my mouth.  I have seen a regular dentist and a periodontist.  I think that when the periodontist saw my x-rays, he had visions of a new Jaguar swimming before his eyes.  I am going to seek a second opinion.  The periodontist wanted me to do scaling and root planing, but when I asked him how likely that was to stop the progression of the infection, he said very unlikely.  My question, why do it then?!  Answer:  the money he will make!  After scaling and root planing he suggested flap surgery.  So I am going to seek another periodontist to do flap surgery on me, to hopefully try to stop the disease, and to salvage what teeth I may have left after the surgery.

Both the dentist and the periodontist told me that some of my teeth are such that they will come out during the surgery.  This is really a shame because my teeth themselves are very healthy and good looking, it is just that they have no more bone to hold onto.  This is really horrible and I am having a hard time with it.  Also my dental insurance won't cover periodontics, but I am looking into financing for the surgery.  

My question:  Is it really true that some of my teeth will come out during the flap surgery (if I can find a perio who will skip right to that).  Would it possible to make them stay in while they do the flap surgery?  Can't they glue them in or something?  Some of them are very, very loose but I do not want to lose them.  I think the perio told me I could not even get bridges because the surrounding teeth are too weak to hook onto.  So am I looking at dentures here?  Would it be better for me to just have all my teeth pulled and get dentures right now??  Before my bone is totally gone?  Please help!

Both dr's said this is genetic, as I am only 36 yrs old.  Genetics and neglect.  I hated flossing so I never did it.  Now I am paying.

Sorry to ramble on so long.  You never know how much you love your teeth until you are faced with the possibility of life without them.

[lynn117]

once they get loose its nearly impossible to save all of them you could try the surgery and save some of them maybe but it will be very expensive. the problem is when it gets this bad its hard to project an expected outcome. if you will probably loose some during the procedure and the dentist really thinks the underlying infection will remain you might want to consider dentures. if you can afford the surgery AND  a good set of dentures try the surgery first. if the surgery will break the bank or restrict your funds enough so if it fails you will be unable to afford a good quality set of dentures go straight to the good dentures. a friend of mine got an inexpensive cookie cutter denture very cheap and has had them break several times. the first time was after 3 1/2 months and she was told they had only a 3 month warranty so she had to pay for repairs. they kind of looked like chicklets. i wish you luck!

[scottma]

If tooth does have lost 90% of supporting bone, tooth is generally very mobile. Very often the tooth will fall our itself. If tooth is non-salvable, flap surgery is not indicated. However, if certain teeth  are still salvable. flap surgery does help completely debride the contaminated root surface and prolong the life of tooth.

[learning2livewell]

I'm sorry to hear about your bone loss.  Did the dentist say how long it takes to get to that stage?  I've been diagnosed with periodontal disease.  I've done the first part of a full-mouth debridement.  I'm doing the second part soon.  I've been told this will stop the disease.

[scottma]

Agree with what you were told

[y2val]

i have the same condition as you.my dentist as put me on a non surgical procedure called perio protect.you.i have not been on it long so cannot say if it works.the product is perio protect.you can go to their website www.perioprotect.com and check it out and find a dentist in your area.the treatment is less invasive and cheaper.if you have a medical plan they write a prescription for the medication.

[scottma]

After reviewing the web site of perio protect, I would consider the product is only the adjunctive therapy of conventional treatment. The rationale of periodontal therapy is complete debridement of root surface, without healthy root surface, cure of periodontal disease is almost impossible. So far, mechanical debridement of root surface is time-proven, evidence-based therapeutical modality. However, perioprotect may reduce the bacterial load on the root surface,and may yield some therapeutic effect. I do'nt think complete cure of periodontal  disease is achievable through perioprotect.

[hopefulone1]

I forgot this thread was even here.  Since I first posted in February, I have had quite a bit of work done.  First the full mouth debridement, which is just where the hygienist goes in and scraps off all the visible calculus.  After that was done I had 4 separate visits of scaling and root planing done with placement of subginigival antibiotics (antibiotics placed under the gum line).  Those were each done under gneral anethestetic.  After the 1st two quadrants of scaling & root planing I was on 2 different courses of oral antibiotics.  This was an attempt to stop the infection around my teeth, because that is what peridontitis is.

After all 4 quadrants had been done I was put in PerioStat, a low dose doxycycline which is aimed at stopping the bodies production of the enzyme that destroys the jaw bone.

I have also been fitted for a night guard to prevent me from clenching my jaw while I sleep, another huge contribtor to my bone loss.

I have not as yet lost any teeth, but the very loose teeth in my mouth are still very loose.  My periodontist has advised me that he does want to perform the flap surgery on my lower teeth only.  Before this is done, I will visit my regular dentist to have the lower teeth bonded together in the back, to stabilize them.  None of these lower teeth are loose to me, but if you saw my x-rays you would wonder how these suckers are staying in there.

All in all so far everything has only cost me $1700 bucks, but the surgery, with bone replacement in the pockets, will run me $1900 a quadrant, and there's 2 quadrants.

I continue to brush, floss, and rinse after every meal.  Plaque control is my number one job with my teeth, and without it all this money I am paying is ill spent!

As far as how long it took me to get to 90% bone loss......I had a dentist tell me about 8 years ago that I never had to worry about cavities, it was periodontitis I had to worry about.  The only problem was, I had no real idea what she was talking about, and so I never visited the periodontist (or gum surgeon as she called it)  So I imagine had I taken action 8 years ago I wouldn't be in this position today, however that is water under the bridge and here I am.

Like I said, no teeth havc fallen out yet, so I am glad about that.  If and when 4 and 13 do fall out or get infected, I will just get fake teeth there.  Pretty simple really.

[hopefulone1]

Oh and on other thing, Periostat alone is not a treatment for periodontitis.  I will be on Periostat for up to 9 months, but it alone would never stop the infection.  It is being used as an adjunct to other, more direct approaches to stop the infection.

When I first visited my periodontist in February, my periodontal pockets (the space between my teeth and the bottom of my gum) measured 8 and 9 mm consistently throughout my mouth