Cosmetic Dentistry Procedures
by Dr. Mal Braverman, New York City, NY

Soft Tissue Management

Soft Tissue Management may be part of your overall treatment plan in providing you the smile you've always wanted. Soft Tissue Treatment will enable you to benefit from fresher breath and healthier teeth and gums through the control of plaque and permit healing of your gum tissue.

If you're considering dental crowns and ceramic restorations, Soft Tissue Management may be recommended to provide healthy gum (gingival) tissues to naturally cover smooth restorative margins for your crowns. This approach can help prevent an exposure of the crown or restoration at your gum line (margin) and gum inflammation.

Dr. Mal Braverman and the Smile Studio provide a team approach between Dr. Braverman, the dental hygienist and you the patient. Plaque is controlled through an emphasis on flossing the treated areas and the use of home treatments, reducing the irritants in plaque permitting the healing and repair process to control the infection. Dr. Braverman will determine in-office maintenance intervals to confirm or modify the original diagnosis based on pocket reduction and gum attachment levels.

Soft tissue management with regard to non-sugical gum tereatment refers to a conservative approach to the removal of inflamed and infected pockets in the gums around the teeth. A surgical approach to pocket elimination involves removal of pockets by excision allowing the patient to keep the area plaque and calculus (hardened plaque) free. This is often not attractive as the gums appear receeded exposing the roots of the teethfollowing the surgical healing . The non-surgical approach is to maintain the pocket free of plaque and calculus and not lose the gum tissue by regularly (3 mo. interval) scaling and root planing by the hygienest or on staff periodontist (gum specialist).In both cases home care instruction and instruments are provided for the patients use to be more effective than they had been in the past at plaque control.