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Curettage

A curettage is the surgical name for the scraping or scooping away of tissue that is infected, necrotic, or otherwise problematic thus requiring removal. This practice is sometimes used on patients suffering from periodontitis, where infected connective tissue is scraped away from around the tooth.

Only an oral surgeon is qualified to undertake the procedure, and if you need a curettage it will have to happen after a consultation session with an oral surgeon, and will only be undertaken at the behest of the oral surgeon, as curettages are a last resort treatment of the symptoms, not the cause of, periodontal disease.

Process

An initial consultation session will be booked to one of our expert oral surgeons, during which an x-ray of the affected area(s) will be taken, and your general oral condition will be evaluated. After this, your entire mouth will be anesthetized, and the infected parts of your gum will be scooped out. The amount of time required for this is hard to say, as it is so very much dependent on the particular case, how much of the tissue is infected, and how much that infection can be cured by removal via curettage. Only an in depth oral surgical examination can answer those questions, which is why, usually, a curettage will take two steps, a consultation and then a session in which the actual surgery takes place.    
As with all oral surgical procedures, aftercare is extremely important. Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol, particularly beer, and eating dairy products containing live cultures. Sugary foods should also be avoided until the scars from the surgery are completely healed over.

We at Forest&Ray are well equipped to handle a curettage, and have oral surgeons at our London dental practice twice a week, most weeks. In order to book an appointment with an oral surgeon, call our friendly customer care staff and they will be happy to book an appointment for you.