Improving Implant Outcomes Using LAPIP™ Protocol with Millennium’s PerioLase® MVP-7™ Laser

As a board-certified periodontist, Jeanne M. Salcetti, DDS, MS, MS, believes in dental implants, which are a large part of her private practice in Colorado Springs, Colorado. “I think implants can be a great replacement for a failing or hopelessly damaged natural tooth,” she maintains. Still, she adds, the decision to remove a failing tooth and replace it with an implant should not be made lightly, for several reasons.

First, as a periodontist, Salcetti considers saving teeth to be her highest priority. “Nothing else—not even implants—preserves the bone and supports the functional and mechanical nature of the patient’s occlusion like his or her own teeth,” she asserts. Then, too, she says, implants are not right for every patient or even every area of the mouth. Moreover, they are not without risks; a significant number of patients experience complications that threaten the survival of the implant, she notes.

Therefore, just as she makes every effort to save a failing tooth, when faced with an implant site infected with peri-implantitis she makes every effort to save the implant as well, starting first with what she says is the least invasive method available—ie, using laser therapy to counter the infectious process that leads to bone loss.

In such cases, Salcetti says, her go-to initial treatment involves the use of the PerioLase® MVP-7™, a 6-watt, free-running pulsed Neodymium: Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) laser from Millennium Dental Technologies, Inc., using Millennium’s LAPIP™ protocol. According to Millennium, the LAPIP protocol with the PerioLase MVP-7—a modification of the well-defined LANAP® protocol for laser periodontitis treatment—is the only laser-assisted periodontal protocol to show significant results in the treatment of peri-implantitis. This method of treating peri-implantitis is a patient-friendly, tissue-sparing microflap surgical approach. It is designed to reverse disease by targeting and reducing the dark-pigmented, gram-negative anaerobic pathogens, such as P. gingivalis, that cause periodontitis, saving healthy tissue from damage and supporting the body’s wound-healing efforts. This, Salcetti says, enables the bone to regenerate, reintegrate, and fill the defect.

Salcetti stresses the benefits of starting with this alternative to more invasive methods. “Using the laser, there is no need to remove the implant, then wait for healing before replacement. Because no resection or reflection of a vertically oriented flap is needed, the integrity of the structural tissue is retained. This means all future treatment options remain available.”

“Although there are times when bone deterioration is so severe we are forced to extract either the tooth or the implant, it is nearly always worth trying to apply the laser treatment before attempting traditional open-flap surgical approaches that can create an esthetic defect due to recession,” she explains.

Millennium goes to great lengths to support dentists in their use of the PerioLase MVP-7, Salcetti says, starting with a 5-day, live-patient, hands-on training continuum over the course of a year. “No other laser company mandates this type of training. It’s fantastic. They really verify that their clinicians understand and are highly trained in laser periodontitis treatment, including the physics and clinical aspects of the equipment.”

But the support doesn’t end there, she adds. As Salcetti learned first-hand, telephone technical support is always available. Her own 8:00 AM call to a technician enabled her to successfully resolve a coolant issue prior to a lengthy procedure for which the patient had already been sedated. “That’s the level of five-star service they provide. They want to make sure if there are any problems or issues, they are right there for you,” she says.

It is Salcetti’s belief that serving the best interests of patients means making every effort to preserve their natural bone, first by “pulling out all the stops” to save teeth, then by attempting to arrest the disease process of peri-implantitis, starting first with the least invasive method. “Our profession needs to look first and foremost at what we can do to save a tooth. However, when the tooth is not salvageable, the next choice is to successfully place and then properly maintain an implant.”

Millennium Dental Technologies, Inc.
10945 South St, Suite 104-A

Cerritos, CA 90703

888-638-5262
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