Gum Disease / LANAP – how long till teeth actually fall out? ?
I’ve been battling Gum disease now for several years and recently had the laser gum surgery done (LANAP) about 2 months ago. Part of the process involved a very thorough scaling & root planing to remove the calculous, followed by a laser to seal up the pockets. As a result of the procudure, my front bottom 4 teeth are now slightly mobile. My dentist has rated it a “plus” mobility and said this is likely happening becuase the caculous that was removed was actually holding my teeth in in place as the bone loss occurs. Now the calculous is gone, so they are loose.
In theory, LANAP is supposed to help regenerate the tissue (and in some cases the bone) to firm up lose teeth and stabalize the disease. So far my gums look better, but my teeth are still loose. Granted I’m only at the 2 month mark since the procedure, so more healing has to occur. They won’t probe for pocket depths now till about the 1 year mark, so I really won’t know if my condition has improved till then.
Preparing for the worst, I wanted to know how long it usually takes for teeth to get so loose before they actually fall out or require extraction? Bascially, what‘s the life expectancy of teeth when they start to become mobile?
My 2nd question is when does it make sense to consider implants as an option? My assumption is that the more loss occurs, the less bone you have to fix an implant too?…this may require surgery to add additional bone?
This disease truly sucks and I’m doing everything I can to keep my teeth. Again, I’m just preparing for the worst and hoping for the best!
