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Receding gums are unattractive and can cause tooth sensitivity, but many people avoid gum grafting surgery because they've heard that it's painful. That's why Dr. Chao developed "Pinhole Gum Rejuvenation®" the first minimally invasive treatment to correct gum recession.
Dr. Chao has trained over 3,500 dentists from around the world in the Pinhole technique and is continuing training of doctors with online classes.
The gums are numbed with a local anesthetic. Tiny entry points (about the size of a ballpoint pen tip) are made in the gums above the tooth or teeth to be treated.
Special dental instruments designed by Dr. Chao are inserted into the entry points and moved to free the gum tissue, then the gums are guided down to the correct position.
The doctor then uses a small angled forceps to pass several small collagen strips through the entry point and place them under the gums, which help to keep the tissue in place as new collagen is formed by the body. This completes the procedure, which takes about half an hour to an hour, depending on the number of teeth treated. The small entry points heal quickly and are virtually undetectable in a day or two.