A Disease-Fighting Tray
One dentist shares how he uses noninvasive Perio Tray therapy to help his implant patients find relief from symptoms of peri-implant disease
Over the last 2 decades, dental implants have increasingly become the standard of care for tooth replacement, with titanium-to-bone integration demonstrating long-term success in countless cases. However, in the 12 years that Dr. Ankur Gupta has been placing implants, he’s witnessed a growing problem: peri-implant disease.
“Individuals who need dental implants have lost their teeth for a reason,” said Dr. Gupta. “Causes vary, but the most common culprit is an overaccumulation of pathogenic microorganisms around the teeth, often caused by an inadequate home care routine.” While he encourages his patients to prioritize their oral hygiene after implant placement, the reality is that many would still struggle to maintain a sufficient regimen at home for a variety of reasons.
“When these patients returned 5 or 6 years later, I would see that the implant body I surgically buried had surfaced, and the tissue around the implant was receding just as it had around the original tooth,” Dr. Gupta recalled. “That bothered me. Patients put so much of their time, money, and trust in me to provide them with what should be a lifelong solution.”
“I started offering my patients Perio Tray therapy and the results were like magic.”
- Ankur A. Gupta, DDS
The Perio Protect Method
Several years ago, Dr. Gupta discovered the Perio Protect Method, an innovative home care treatment that relies on prescription Perio Tray delivery to administer 1.7% hydrogen peroxide gel, an antimicrobial agent, into periodontal pockets as deep as 9 mm. While Perio Tray therapy was developed to help patients battling gum disease, the treatment has found additional utility in combating symptoms of peri-implantitis thanks to the diseases’ shared bacterial etiology and Perio Protect’s ability to reduce the presence of the most damaging oral pathogens.
“I started offering my patients Perio Tray therapy and the results were like magic,” Dr. Gupta shared. “Implants that had bleeding around them, implants with periodontal pockets—suddenly, everything just became so much better.” What makes Perio Protect unique from other treatment options is its sealed tray delivery system. “There's no other product as sophisticated as Perio Tray therapy,” he added. “It provides sustained delivery of medication into the sulcus, where it has time to disrupt and eliminate bacterial accumulation along the implant body, root surface, and periodontal space. This has been shown to mitigate the progression of tissue inflammation, even in the most at-risk areas.”
Treatment in the Post-Antibiotic Age
Perio Tray therapy also circumvents the health risks associated with antibiotic usage. “As dentists, we must own the fact that we've historically overprescribed antibiotics and have created an additional problem in our attempts to solve another,” Dr. Gupta explained. “A solution like Perio Protect—an antimicrobial that’s not an antibiotic—is incredibly valuable and I'm proud to be a doctor who recommends it.”
