When it comes to a healthy smile, you need more than just cavity-free teeth. Your gums help to hold your teeth in place and help provide stability, so it’s important to keep them healthy (i.e., pale pink and firm). If you notice that your gums bleed easily and are red and puffy, you may have periodontal disease, also called gum disease. If left untreated, this condition can lead to permanent damage to your oral structures and even tooth loss. Although there is no cure for gum disease, Dr. King can diagnose, treat, and prevent it from harming your smile with gum disease treatment in Fort Worth, TX.
Early on, gum disease can be treated and reversed with a simple dental cleaning; however, more advanced cases require more extensive treatment methods. In these cases, we perform procedures that are called scaling and root planing. First, we go under the gum line and clear out trapped pockets of plaque and bacteria. Then, we make the rough root surfaces smooth to make healing easier and reinfection more difficult in the future.
To make sure that we’ve eliminated the infection, we may have to perform scaling and root planing again in three to four months. Once we have gum disease under control, we just need to maintain your periodontal health to prevent this condition from returning. Luckily, keeping your gums healthy is rather simple. You just need to brush and floss every day and visit Dr. King at Summer Creek Dentistry every six months for a dental checkup and teeth cleaning.