Gum diseases can severely damage your oral health and if not treated timely can result in loss of the tooth. Gum disease treatment should be initiated in a timely manner or else it may also impact the rest of your body. Luckily, dental treatments have a decent shot of bringing the periodontal disease under control, given it is identified early.
Left untreated, it might well intensify into periodontitis, and lead to loss of tooth and in addition harming the bone underneath that tissue. If unchecked, the infection can spread in the body, causing ailments like oral cancer, strokes, and diabetes.
Causes of Gum or Periodontal Disease
Gum disease or periodontal disease is a result of microbes plagued plaque developing on the teeth, typically because of poor oral hygiene. If left to gather on the teeth, plaque solidifies into tartar, an intense store that stains the teeth, and must be removed by a dentist.
Other factors increasing the risk of gum disease include smoking or using tobacco products, a diet made up of acidic and sugary food and drinks, and crooked or overlapping teeth. Stress, hormonal changes, and some medicines, also contribute to upping the chances of infection and disease.
Gum Disease Treatment
Gum disease treatment aims to control the contamination as quickly as time permits before the disease has an opportunity to grow further and cause more harm.
Tests will be done to see whether the bone under the teeth is affected and the periodontal pockets that support the teeth have loosened and lengthened because of the build-up of tartar. The results of these tests play a role in whether the disease is considered mild, moderate or severe, and this, in turn, determines the level of treatment required.
Gum Disease Treatment: Non-surgical options
Medication: The dentist may treat the contamination and irritation with mouthwashes, gels, and pharmaceuticals that are anti-toxin, antibacterial and antimicrobial.
Scaling and planing: The blend of these two procedures expels the plaque and tartar from above and underneath the gum line. Scaling cleans the teeth altogether, while root planing smoothes the roots to make it more difficult for new microbes to stick to them and begin a radical new cycle of tartar development. Planing likewise gives the recently sans tartar takes an opportunity to re-append themselves and recuperate.
Surgical treatments
When the periodontal disease is more severe, ordinary scaling and planing may not be enough to deal with the long loose pockets and it has no effect on any bone damage the periodontitis has caused. Dental professionals then have to consider surgical options.
Pocket reduction surgery takes up where planing and scaling leaves off, using surgery to clean the pockets and smooth the surfaces more carefully and reduce their size to kick-start the healing and re-attachment process.
Grafts are used to replace lost tissue or bone. Gum grafts involve using tissue from other areas of the body to cover root surfaces exposed by disease-induced gum recession. Bone grafts fill in sections of the bone destroyed by bacteria with synthetic or natural bone, and tissue-stimulating proteins are added to help bolster tissue and bone regrowth.
The best way to deal with gum disease is to avoid it if at all possible. This means setting a good oral hygiene routine, a healthy lifestyle, and stubbing out smoking, as high priorities. But it also involves calling in the experts. Visit Periodontal Specialists for your next dental appointment.
