Local dentist turns to lasers for common procedure

 Dr. Donald K. Meyer showed off the power of the laser. He focused the red colored laser on a piece of paper. The laser pierced into a piece of paper, erasing blue ink writing on the paper.

Burned the ink off, actually.

“Powerful, huh?” Meyer said.

Meyer has been a dentist for more than 30 years. But for more than a year, he has used a laser procedure to destroy bacteria-filled gums of patients suffering from periodontal disease (gum disease).

The procedure is called Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure.

Meyer, who practices at an office in The Cliffs in Independence, rattles of the positives: “It’s new. It works. Less pain. The patients like it. It’s moderately priced. I like to do it.”

There’s two ways to remove periodontal disease. There’s the surgical route where dentists use a scalpel to cut the gum and remove the bacteria.

“In the past, to do some of the gum surgery ... was painful,” Meyer said. “You had to cut into the gum, lay the tissue back and scrape underneath the inflamed tissue. People didn’t like it because they were sore for so long and in so much pain.”

Then there’s LANAP.

Basically, Meyer zaps the inflamed gums around each tooth with the laser.

The extreme temperature of the laser kills all bacteria, unlike a surgical scalpel used in traditional gum surgery. No matter how efficient the dentist is in surgery, he cannot removal all the bacteria.

“The laser is a concentrated light force,” Meyer said. “It’s light that’s not divergent. It’s a straight beam. It’s got great power behind it.”

The laser will physically interact with the bacteria and kill the organism by the absorption of laser energy.

The beam also helps in sealing the pocket closed so new germs cannot enter.

The following day after the laser treatment, the patient may have soreness but not the pain associated with gum surgery.

Periodontal disease is an infection of the tissue, both bone and gum, that supports teeth.

It’s caused by bacteria that destroys the connective tissue and bone.

The gums recede and the roots of the teeth are exposed. Pockets form between the tooth and the gums. In time, the pockets deepen. Bacteria invades the spaces.

“Then it goes down to the bone and its up,” Meyer said. “The end result is that you lose your teeth.”

 Pus develops between the teeth and the gums when the gums pull away from the teeth.

Meyer said if, for example, he gets 100 new patients, more than 50 percent will likely have periodontal disease.

Dentists only treat moderate or advanced periodontal disease.

“Early on, there’s not much pain with periodontal disease,” Meyer said.

The disease creates extreme inflammation that, if left untreated, can cause cardiovascular disease that leads to a heart attack or stroke.

When the gum tissue is infected, it loses attachment to the tooth. This causes more bacteria to infiltrate the gums.

Meyer called the mouth “a wonderful incubator” for bacteria growth. It’s warm and moist and has plenty of fuel called food.

After the laser procedure, patients must follow a weeklong all-liquid diet and eat soft foods for about three weeks after that. The reason: You don’t want food to jam into gums not fully healed and attached to teeth.

There are a limited number of dentists who offer the laser procedure. Meyer knows of only four dentists in the Kansas City metropolitan area who do the procedure.

The laser procedure was developed and perfected in Cerritos, Calif., within the past 10 years by two dentists.

The procedure is involved and poses challenges for the dentist. Meyer underwent 12-hour training days to learn the procedure.

“The only way the doctor can do it is if he’s trained, certified, worked on patients, tested and licensed.”

The laser procedure costs about the same as gum surgery and takes about the same length of time.

Dental insurance covers the procedure.