Dental laser treatment now available to millions of Canadians suffering from gum disease

March 7, 2008
Health Canada clears only dental laser designed for use in laser-ssisted new attachment procedure.

CERRITOS, California and VANCOUVER, British Columbia--Millennium Dental Technologies, Inc. has announced that the millions of Canadians suffering from gum disease now have a new, ground-breaking treatment option.

Health Canada has granted the company a license to market its PerioLase MVP-7 variable pulsed Neodymium:Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet (Nd:YAG) dental laser.

The PerioLase MVP-7 is the only dental laser designed specifically for use in Laser Assisted New Attachment Procedure--an FDA-cleared and patented Laser Periodontal Therapy technique that offers a proven, vastly less painful and less invasive treatment alternative to conventional scalpel/suture flap surgery.

Periodontal or gum disease is one of the most common medical conditions in Canada. Gum disease, including gingivitis and periodontitis, is a chronic bacterial infection that, if left untreated, can lead to tooth loss.

According to the Canadian Dental Association, 70 percent of Canadians will develop gum disease at some point in their lifetime. LPT is the first and only specific periodontal protocol to receive FDA clearance, and has been in widespread use by the dental community for many years for the treatment of gum disease.

According to Richard Hayden, DDS, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, "I have witnessed the effectiveness of the PerioLase MVP-7 free running dental laser first hand in LANAP. LANAP is a major advancement in periodontal technology that we are excited to apply in our practice."

Dr. Hayden performed LANAP for the first time in Canada using the newly approved PerioLase MVP-7.

"Reaching patients across Canada with LANAP is an important milestone for Millennium Dental Technologies as we seek to bridge the divide between patients and dentists," said Millennium Dental Technologies President Robert H. Gregg II, DDS, a practicing dentist and co-developer of LANAP. "By providing a simple and comfortable patient experience with good clinical results, the dental community can remove fear of treatment and get patients the treatment that they sorely need."

The PerioLase MVP-7 from Millennium Dental Technologies is a 6 watt FR (Free Running) Nd:YAG laser with the unique features necessary to perform LANAP and other soft tissue procedures. Easy to use and designed to optimize the performance of LPT, the PerioLase MVP-7 has the power and versatility to perform a wide range of soft and hard tissue laser procedures, thus allowing dentists to add a full complement of new soft and hard tissue laser treatment options to their practice.

More than 600 periodontists and general practitioners in the U.S. are currently treating more than 14,000 patients suffering from gum disease with this laser-based technique each year. This number continues to grow as more general practitioners and periodontists become clinically certified to treat patients with LANAP.

A recent study published in the prestigious, peer-reviewed International Journal of Periodontics & Restorative Dentistry demonstrated uniformly positive histologic success in the treatment of moderate to severe gum disease (periodontal pockets).

New connective tissue attachment and regeneration of root surface (cementum) was achieved in 100 percent of the cases studied in the human histology study using the PerioLase MVP-7 dental laser.

The study was the fourth largest prospective comparative human histology project in the entire peer-reviewed, periodontal literature. According to Raymond A. Yukna, DMD, MS, who led the study and is now the Director of Advanced Periodontal Therapies, University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine, "these results are very positive, very consistent and very encouraging related to the treatment of gum pockets.

Dentists have been looking for ways to regenerate some of the tissues lost to gum infection, and LANAP is an exciting and revolutionary treatment protocol that shows microscopically that we can form new root coating and new connective tissue attachment."

For more information, go to Millennium Dental Technologies.

To read more about Millennium Dental, go to Millennium Dental Technologies.