Gum disease – signs you have it and what to do about it
Are you aware of the many symptoms of gum disease? Are you currently suffering from gum disease? If you have experienced discomfort along your gum line, it is time to visit our doctors here at Triad Dentistry for gum disease treatment. For years, our well-experienced dentists have provided top-flight care to patients in the Greensboro, North Carolina area. Our goal is to provide a comfortable experience that has you walking away with superior oral health.
Gum Disease Therapy
As you progress through life, it is vital to maintain an effective oral hygiene regimen which includes brushing, flossing, and rinsing. When combined with regularly scheduled (twice a year is recommended) dental visits for an exam and cleaning, you will be doing your oral health a huge favor. For many, oral health is about the teeth, and the gums can be overlooked. Your gums and supporting bone structure play a massive role in the health of your teeth, so it is essential not to ignore these.
Gum disease, a bacterial infection that causes inflammation of the gums, is a considerable threat to your teeth’s support system. Making it in for your regular dental checkups will allow our team to detect early signs of gum disease. That can be especially important for patients who are not aware of the signs or symptoms of gum disease. When our dentists detect symptoms, gum disease therapy may be recommended.
Gum disease therapy aims to rehabilitate your infected gum tissue back to health. When left unchecked and untreated, gum disease will progress from the gums to the supporting bone structure and lead to tooth loss. For some, a deep cleaning/scaling to remove built-up tartar and calculus below the gum line will be enough to reverse the effects of gum disease. For severe cases of gum disease, more invasive work may need to be performed, such as gum grafting.
Symptoms and Stages of Gum Disease
Gum disease therapy is necessary to deter and treat the various stages of gum disease. When bacteria are allowed to accumulate on the teeth and along the gum line, it can lead to a severe infection of the gums.
Gum disease presents itself in various stages, with each progressing phase showing more severe damage to your oral health. The stages of gum disease include:
- Inflammation – This initial stage, called gingivitis, is inflammation of the gums, which occurs through gums that bleed when you brush or floss.
- Early-Stage Gum Disease – When your gums start to recede from your teeth, tiny pockets form, which provides an exposed area where damaging bacteria can begin to wreak havoc. When this happens, your body’s natural defensive response is for the gum tissue to recede. Symptoms of this stage include continuous bleeding when you brush or floss. At this point, small amounts of bone loss could occur.
- Moderate Gum Disease – If gum disease is allowed to progress to this stage unchecked and untreated, you may begin to experience slight to moderate discomfort at and around the gum line. At this point, bone loss can increase and lead to the teeth’ support system degenerating. When this happens, it can lead to tooth loss. At this phase, bleeding will continue, and inflammation will increase.
- Advanced Gum Disease – When gum disease is allowed to progress to this advanced stage, the connective tissue that holds your teeth in place can begin to deteriorate. That, in conjunction with the degeneration (or outright destruction) of your teeth’s support system, will inevitably lead to tooth loss and worse. Discomfort at this point will increase. Chronic bad breath, known as halitosis, may develop, and bleeding will continue. You will require serious gum disease therapy to mitigate damage when this happens.
Because our patients’ early symptoms of gum disease can go undetected, our team recommends twice a year visits with us at Triad Dentistry. Regular examinations will ensure that symptoms of gum disease do not go unnoticed, leading to early treatment before real damage can be done by the later stages of gum disease.
Available treatments for Gum Disease explained by Steven Hatcher
If it has a good long-term prognosis you can get every tooth x-rayed to check for periodontal disease and how much bone loss.
Sometimes if the periodontal bone loss is so advanced then your teeth cannot be saved.
If you haven’t lost too much bone, then you can maintain the teeth with a deep periodontal cleaning, to keep it off the roots this is done every 3-4 months.
If you do deep periodontal cleaning, you can maintain your teeth and gums for a lifetime.
The sooner you can get in to have an evaluation for periodontal disease, then dental implants could help restore your smile and your oral health.
Correcting gum disease
Your first defense against gum disease is early detection, and then treatment is next. The treatment recommended by our doctors at Triad Dentistry will depend on the severity of your gum disease. Treatments can include:
- Scaling/Root Planing – This deep cleaning option will have the buildup of plaque and calculus along and under the gum line being cleaned. This treatment is excellent for your battle against gum disease.
- Gum Grafting – This becomes necessary when gum tissue has been destroyed and must be replaced so that your tooth’s roots are protected. Healthy gum tissue will be removed from another area of your mouth (that is healthy) and used to replace lost gum tissue that has fallen victim to gum disease.
- Dental Implants – When gum disease has led to tooth loss, our preferred method of treatment at this point is a dental implant. We use titanium implants that will be inserted into the jawbone. Once inserted, it will fuse with the bone, and a dental crown will be affixed to the implant, providing a solid and durable tooth replacement that should last a lifetime with proper care.
Watch Early Signs of Gum Disease and Dental Solutions – Greensboro
Dr. Steven Hatcher
Dr. Chad Merrell
Dr. Sona Isharani
Dr. Victoria Santiago-Coiro
The team at Triad Dentistry is here to treat your gum disease before it becomes a larger problem. Please give the team at Triad Dentistry a call today at (336) 383-1482 to set up an appointment if you believe you may have gum disease or if you just need an exam and cleaning.
