Healthy and functional teeth are important for digestion and also for cosmetic issues. Especially older people suffer from different orthodontal problems, e.g. periodontitis. This inflammation affects the tissue that surrounds and supports the teeth and leads to a progressive loss of the alveolar bone with the worst being teeth loss. Today the treatment methods are limited and reach from antibiotic to surgery. But they are not effective.
New studies showed that shockwaves can induce alveole bone regeneration and therefore give a better option for patients suffering from alveole bone degeneration caused by periodontitis. The results of the study “demonstrated effective regeneration of alveolar bone by ESWT and suggested that ESWT should be evaluated as an adjunct in the regeneration of periodontal tissues following periodontal disease.” (Sathishkumar et al., 2008). This research shows that in the future the need of surgery and antibiotics can decrease through the application of shockwaves.
Shockwaves also showed promising results in periipmlantitis. In this disease ” […] biofilm removal is essential to treat periimplantitis.” (Müller et al., 2009). The study found out that shockwaves [are] able significantly reduce adherent bacteriaby three orders of magnitude (P ≤ 0.0001).