George Dinulescu, DDS, and his team follow the American Academy of Periodontology guidelines for periodontal disease treatment. “Our periodontal routine involves nonsurgical treatment for mild to moderate cases, surgical treatment for severe cases, and a combination of the 2 for some moderate cases,” says Dr. Dinulescu. After scaling and root planing (SRP), he and his team re-evaluate patients at 4 to 6 weeks and then decide on the course of treatment. Some of our patients go into maintenance, and some need additional treatment,” explains Dr. Dinulescu.
When a patient doesn’t respond satisfactorily to SRP, Dr. Dinulescu may use ARESTIN, a locally applied antibiotic that can be used in conjunction with SRP to treat periodontal disease–causing bacteria. “If the patient has localized sites with probing depths around 5 mm, we’ll place ARESTIN,” says Dr. Dinulescu. “After placing ARESTIN, most of the time we see a reduction in probing depths of approximately 2 mm.”
As Dr. Dinulescu explains, SRP alone isn’t always enough to adequately treat periodontal disease. In those cases, he “adds localized delivery of antibiotics (like ARESTIN), systemic antibiotics, laser-assisted periodontal therapy, and surgical periodontal treatment.”