When it comes to oral health, many people are primarily worried about cavities. However, gum disease is just as much of a threat, as it can easily result in tooth loss if it’s not properly dealt with. Dr. King can identify warning signs of gum disease that you may have missed on your own, and she can address the problem before it grows more severe. Reach out to us today if you think you may be in need of gum disease treatment.
Missteps in oral hygiene can lead to your gums becoming infected, thus resulting in the condition known as gum disease. A key thing to remember about gum disease is that it typically starts off relatively mild; in fact, you might be able to reverse it simply by improving your oral hygiene routine. But if gum disease isn’t properly addressed in time, it can grow more severe and have a devastating impact on the health of your smile.
You may have gum disease if you’ve noticed any of the following warning signs:
The best way to tell for sure whether you have gum disease is to schedule a consultation at our office so that our team can take a closer look at your smile.
Step one is to gather more information about your condition. Once we know how severe your gum disease is, we can determine the best way to treat it. We can go into more detail about your treatment options when you visit our office, but in the meantime, here’s a brief summary of the services we provide for addressing gum disease.
Dental technology is always marching forward. It’s becoming more and more common for dentists to use soft tissue lasers to address gum disease. The precision of the laser allows us to remove any damaged tissue without affecting the parts of your gums that are still healthy. On top of that, the laser can help kill the bacteria that are contributing to your gum problems.
Scaling and root planing make up a deep cleaning procedure that is often recommended when gum disease has reached a certain stage. A deep cleaning specifically targets the bacteria that has built up around or under your gums. This gives us a chance to get rid of plaque and tartar that might be overlooked during a regular dental cleaning; it can also help ensure that your gums are able to reattach themselves to the teeth again in less time.
If you have bleeding or receding gums, persistent bad breath, teeth that have shifted out of place, difficulty chewing, or visible plaque buildup, your gum disease may have reached the point where scaling and root planing are called for. Of course, the surest way to know whether any given procedure is truly right for you is to schedule an appointment with our team. We can examine your mouth in order to determine how severe your gum disease is; then we can work with you to figure out the best option for treatment.
We’ll begin with scaling to get rid of the plaque and tartar that are contributing to gum disease. Special instruments will be used to gently scrape away these substances. We’ll pay especially close attention to any periodontal pockets, which are spaces that form between the gums and teeth due to gum disease. Our team will clean all the way down to the bottom of these pockets, thus getting rid of any bacterial deposits that might be hiding there.
Scaling is followed by root planing, which involves smoothing out the roots of the teeth. The purpose of this step may not be obvious on the surface, but it has two major benefits. The first is that it makes it easier for the gums to reconnect to the teeth. The second is that it makes it harder for bacteria to accumulate on the tooth roots, which ultimately lowers the risk of additional infections occurring in the future.
Once the scaling and root planing process is complete, our team will give you some tips for taking care of your mouth while it’s healing. Here are some basic steps you can follow to keep your discomfort under control during the recovery process:
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