Periodontal Examination and Assessment

Al-FaPerio believes that having good oral health starts with creating a healthy foundation. Our periodontal assessment enables us to assess the current health of your gums, teeth and jawbones, ensuring we offer treatment that is right for you.

We Assess and Identify

Biological Status

The gums or gingivae is where we tend to focus a large proportion of our assessment and diagnosis. This is because your gums are the supporting structure for healthy teeth.

We assess and identify:

  • Pocketing: We use special technology to help us identify the level of gum disease in your mouth accurately. If you have pocketing, there is an area of infection which requires professional facilitation and cannot be addressed by home care alone.
  • Physical Appearance of the Gums: We look for any colour or structural differentials. This can give us an idea of where we need to focus our efforts.
  • Pain, Tenderness or Swelling: This gives us an indication of the origin of the infection.

As well as the gums, we also assess the other soft tissues in your mouth like cheeks, throat and tongue to evaluate for any pathology.

Teeth

  • Recession: Movement, drifting or spacing – if you have any of these conditions, we can build a treatment plan that prevents this type of movement post-treatment. We can put a treatment plan together alongside your dentist.
  • Extent of Mobility: We assess the extent of mobility as it allows us to understand the level of damage that occurred.
  • Furcation Involvement: This assessment allows us to identify deteriorating areas that may be extremely difficult to keep clean. The furcation area is the space between the origin of the roots of the tooth.
  • Infection or Decay: This part of the assessment can be done with your dentist too. This makes sure that any existing infection is swiftly dealt with.

Bite

Al-FaPerio assesses the dynamics of the way you eat, chew and speak. We also work alongside your dentist to highlight any issues that may need to be addressed.

Aesthetics

We also focus our examination of the final aesthetics of the teeth, gums and smile. To help us give you the optimal final outcome, we use our cosmetic periodontal assessment. A beautiful smile is not just cosmetically enhanced teeth; it is often a combination of the correct gingival architecture and proper lip support.

We facilitate the achievement of an aesthetic gum appearance that allows the teeth to give the illusion of correct alignment and position. We have a whole host of cosmetic periodontal procedures that we can draw from to achieve your desired results.

Diagnosis

After we have completed our assessment, we are able to diagnose your condition accurately. The results enable us to make sure we offer viable treatment options for you. We thoroughly explain in-depth the conclusions of your assessments, why we offer specific treatments and the fees associated with these options.

Al-FaPerio specialises in laser periodontology, which is an innovative treatment that isn’t intrusive, gives us more control and helps provide fantastic results.

Periodontal Examination and Assessment

Periodontal Examination

Understand Our Signature Periodontal Examination

Your oral health is incredibly important to us. At our London periodontal clinic, Al-FaPerio has developed a signature periodontal examination. We assess your teeth, gums and jawbones – the oral foundation for a healthy, long-lasting mouth.

Our signature periodontal examination is designed to identify and highlight any risk of gum disease. The periodontist will carefully examine your mouth and will offer the right choice of treatment, such as laser gum surgery, to improve your oral health.

Your Signature Periodontal Examination in Three Simple Steps

With Al-FaPerio, your periodontist will explain each step to you and the purpose of each stage of the examination.

  • A Periodontal Consultation: The consultation gives you the chance to discuss your concerns with our specialist. For nervous or anxious patients, our specialist can book a periodontal treatment with this in mind. You’ll be given further insight into our gum disease treatments and how we can help you at our London periodontal clinic. Book an appointment today.
  • A Comprehensive Assessment: The periodontal assessment enables us to fully understand the extent of the gum disease in your mouth. This gives us further insight and allows us to plan and create an accurate treatment for you.
  • A Personalised Treatment Plan: Not all gum disease treatment is the same. By working closely with your referring dentist, we can carefully create a treatment plan that aims to restore the health of your gums, teeth and bone structure.

Once we have created your treatment plan, explained the procedure to you and you are happy to move forward, we will perform the treatment at our London clinic.

Leading Gum Treatments from a Specialist Periodontal Clinic

Our London periodontist is home to our award-winning laser gum surgery that eliminates gum disease while promoting gum and bone regeneration. Al-FaPerio is here to provide leading gum disease treatments for patients across London and Essex.

Cosmetic Periodontal Assessment

We aim to provide the optimal aesthetic outcome to each case we treat. To do this, we have to assess each situation individually and create a set of protocols that are unique to the individual. It is essential for the ‘pink stuff’ surrounding each tooth to be taken into account when considering cosmetic enhancements. Often if a part of the gum is too bulky or the gum line is uneven, then this can severely impact the final cosmetics of the smile.

Our cosmetic periodontal assessment helps us consider many factors and specific parameters are also taken into account when establishing treatment protocols. We work very closely with your cosmetic, restorative dentist to make sure that the gum-tooth combination is perfectly matched.

Factors considered during our cosmetic periodontal assessment include:

  • Aetiology: We need to understand how this condition has arisen so that we can not only treat the cause but also make sure that the final aesthetics are not impeded.
  • Gingival Biotype: This is a critical consideration since we need to understand how the final aesthetics are going to be affected long term and whether we need to intervene with any grafting procedures to strengthen the gum around the tooth.
  • Stability: We aim to prevent further deterioration from the infection, and so stabilising the area of concern becomes a significant part of the treatment.
  • Root Coverage: If a tooth does not have enough of ‘keratinised’ gingivae, then it can be a precursor to recession and even be exacerbated by any existing infection leading to further recession. This needs to be assessed so that the correct types of options are selected.
  • Access & Muscle Pull: This is how the facial muscles affect the way we smile. Sometimes the gums are connected to the mobile element of the soft tissues in a way that is not aesthetically pleasing. Hence, we need to accommodate this additional consideration in our treatment plan.
  • Personal Habits: If a patient is a smoker, then this can negatively impact the outcome of the treatment. All our assessments consider this fact before we establish protocols for treatment.
  • Patient Expectations: We like to understand your precise needs and requirements for the final cosmetic result. This helps us build into the treatment plan aspects that enhance your smile in the way you want. We work collaboratively very closely with the cosmetic dentist to ensure a pleasing final result.
  • General Dental Health & Oral Hygiene: It is essential to make sure that your mouth is stable before we embark upon cosmetic treatments. We need to ensure that we can make the area of concern healthy as well as beautiful. We can easily provide a home regime also that facilitates a healthy foundation upon which to work.
  • Type of Defect: When it comes to a cosmetic assessment, we like to identify the extent of damage already in place. This helps us predict the long-term outcome of the situation. It also helps us understand what procedures are best to help to increase the longevity of the treatment. We classify the defect using the Miller Classification for gingival recession. This assessment is often carried out in combination with our Signature Periodontal Examination.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a periodontal oral evaluation?

Our periodontal oral examinations help to determine the health of your teeth, gums and jawbone and identify whether there are any signs of gum disease present. We consider these areas to be the foundation of your mouth, and our thorough examination helps us to identify and diagnose any signs or risks of gum disease, even in their earliest stages, to prevent tooth loss later down the line.

What does a periodontal exam consist of?

During these periodontal examinations, our assessment of your mouth is incredibly thorough, and we will look at a range of areas to ensure we’ve covered everything. We look at:

  • Pocketing
  • The physical appearance of the gums
  • Any areas of pain, tenderness or swelling

These areas help us to truly get a clear picture of how healthy your gums are, or whether there are any indications of gum disease present. We also look at your teeth for signs of:

  • Recession
  • Movement
  • Infection or decay

We will also analyse your bite when you speak, eat, bite and chew, as well as how your overall teeth and gums look aesthetically. This helps us to put a plan in place that not only addresses any underlying health issues you may have but also your personal aesthetic goals for your smile.

How long is a periodontal exam?

These types of assessments are incredibly thorough, so they can’t be achieved properly during a short routine appointment. During your initial consultation, your dentist will be able to advise you on how long your examination is expected to take, but this may differ if any issues are identified during your appointment.

Does a periodontal exam hurt?

Although we aim to be as thorough as possible during these types of appointments, they shouldn’t be particularly painful. You may experience some mild discomfort, especially if you are struggling with symptoms of gum sensitivity, however, our professionals are extremely used to dealing with patients who have these issues.

If you are experiencing any pain during your examination, please your dentist know and they will be able to help with pain-relief solutions.

BOOK A CONSULTATION TODAY

You can call us on 020 8506 0701 or fill out the form here for more information on all our treatments.

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