Pocket Depth Reduction Procedures The main cause of periodontal disease is bacterial plaque, a sticky, colorless film that forms daily on the teeth and below the gumline. Your bone and gum tissue should fit snugly around your teeth like a turtleneck sweater around your neck. When you have periodontal disease, the supporting structures around the teeth are destroyed creating a space called a pocket. Over time, these pockets get deeper, providing a large space for bacteria to live and multiply. The bacterial in these pockets create further bone loss and tissues destruction. Eventually, if enough bone is lost, the teeth will require removal. When the pockets in your mouth have become so deep that they are impossible to clean with daily at home oral hygiene and professional routine care, a pocket reduction procedure is recommended. During this procedure, the gums are moved away from the teeth to allow access to remove the disease causing bacteria and infected gum tissue. In some cases, irregular surfaces of the damaged bone are smoothed to limit areas where disease causing bacteria can hide. This allows the gum tissue to better reattach to healthy bone.