What ARESTIN Is
ARESTIN is made up of tiny antibiotic microspheres, think of them as a time-release powder, that we tuck directly into the infected pockets below your gumline. That is the one place your brush and floss simply cannot reach. Once placed, the microspheres release their medicine slowly over the days that follow, fighting the bacteria that drive gum disease right at the source rather than asking a pill to find its way there.
When We Use It
At our Harrisonburg practice on Medical Avenue, we use ARESTIN as part of a complete plan for moderate to advanced gum disease, not on its own. It works best as a companion to a deep cleaning, the procedure your dentist calls scaling and root planing, which smooths the tooth roots and removes hardened buildup below the gums. Research shows that pairing ARESTIN with a deep cleaning shrinks those gum pockets more than the cleaning does by itself, which gives your gums a better chance to heal and reattach.
What the Visit Is Like
Placing ARESTIN is quick and comfortable, done chairside in the same visit as your deep cleaning, so there is no separate procedure to dread and nothing to recover from afterward.
- We complete your deep cleaning first to clear the pockets.
- We gently place the microspheres into the treated pockets.
- There is no bandage to remove later, the medicine simply dissolves on its own.
Why Gum Pockets Matter
Healthy gums hug your teeth snugly, with only a shallow space between gum and tooth. When gum disease sets in, that space deepens into what your dentist calls a pocket. The deeper the pocket, the more room bacteria have to hide, and the harder it becomes to keep clean with brushing and flossing alone. Left unchecked, those pockets can lead to the loss of the bone that anchors your teeth, which is the most common reason adults lose teeth. Shrinking the pockets is the whole goal, and ARESTIN is one of the tools that helps us get there when a cleaning by itself is not enough.
After Your Treatment
One of the nicest things about ARESTIN is how little it asks of you afterward. There is nothing to remove and no recovery period, so you can return to your day right away. To give the medicine the best chance to work, we ask you to keep a few simple habits for about a week and a half.
- Skip flossing the specific treated areas for about ten days, while still brushing and flossing the rest of your mouth as usual.
- Avoid hard, crunchy, or sticky foods for the first day so the microspheres stay where they belong.
- Try not to touch the treated spots with your tongue or fingers, and let any mild tenderness settle on its own.
Following Up
We then check in at your follow-up visits, measuring your pockets and looking at your gum tissue to make sure the treatment is working for you. Gum disease is a condition you manage over time rather than fix once and forget, so keeping your maintenance visits on schedule is what protects the progress we make together. For our Valley patients fighting a stubborn gum infection that has not responded to cleaning alone, this small step can make a real difference, and we will always explain exactly how your gums are responding in plain language across Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, and the wider Shenandoah Valley.