Gum disease can be described as an inflammation of the gum line, which can, once developed, infect the jawbone that are around and supports your teeth.
Gum disease has three stages. These stages ranges from gingivitis, which can develop into periodontitis, and lastly advanced periodontitis.
You will know that you have one of the stages of gum disease if you should the symptoms that can include swollen, red, bleeding and tender gums. More so, you will notice that your gums will start to recede, or move away from your teeth. Your breath will also smell bad, but you can also have a bad taste in your mouth. If the condition worsen, you will notice loose teeth and there can be pus around the teeth and gums that are affected.
The treatment options available to sort out your gum disease
Luckily, there are treatment options available to solve your gum disease. However, you need to act fast. The sooner you deal with your gum disease the better, since in the early stages the damage that gum disease can cause will be less. If you do nothing, then you might lose your teeth.
The treatment options you have will be depended on what stage your gum disease is has progressed too.
The options that dentists will use to treat your gum disease can range from nonsurgical therapies that can control bactericidal growth, to more aggressive treatments that include surgery to restore supportive tissues.
The non-surgical option to treat gum disease
Visiting your dentist twice a year will be enough if your problem is minor. That is since with the cleaning, your dentist can identify your problem. Meaning that your bleeding gums are gum disease, and then during the cleaning, the dentist will remove the plaque that cause the gum disease. In severe cases the plaque will build-up heavy and harden, this is called tartar. Brushing your teeth at home will not be able to remove it. But using electric toothbrushes will help to minimize the buildup. Nonetheless, the tartar is best to be removed by a professional dentist or dental hygienists. They will clean your teeth from above and below the gum line where the plaque has been building up.
Going for a cleaning is a preventative measure. Still, this process is also a way to stave off the development of bacteria.
Another option, when cleaning is not enough, is to do a scaling and root planing. These are much more intense, where the dentist will apply a local anesthetic. Then the dentist will scrap away your tartar buildup off the teeth and make sure that your teeth roots are smooth. By doing this, the dentist ensures that the bacteria does not have any rough spots to cling to, and that the tartar that is below the gums are removed. This is a much more intense cleaning, and if your dentist does this treatment, you will experience some bleeding and it will be painful.
Surgical methods to treat gum disease
If cleaning or even intense cleaning does not work, then you might be a candidate for a surgical treatment.
Pocket reduction surgery, or flap surgery, is where the gums are lifted back and the tarter are removed. During this procedure, the teeth and roots are smoothed out thus taking away any bumps where the bacteria can cling too. Also, what this technique does is to reduce the space between your gums and teeth, thus limiting bacteria to developed to periodontal disease.
Soft tissue grafts is a technique where your dentist transplant healthy gum pieces at places where the gums have receded. Grafts are normally taken from the roof of your mouth and then stitched into place.
Bone grafts are also possible to ease your gum disease. Here your dentist will take pieces of your bone, or donated bone, or alternatively synthetic bone to replace the bone that was damaged by the disease. Newer technology, like tissue engineering, can also be used as it promote your own body to renew bone and tissue at a fast-tracked rate.
Guided tissue regeneration can also be used. This technique will stimulate the gum and bone tissue to develop. Normally this treatment is done with flap surgery. Your dentist will place a small mesh-like fabric between the gum tissue and bone. This fabric will prevent your gum tissue to grow into there are where bone must be. But it also allows the bone to regrow, which will support the teeth.
Bone surgery is also an option to treat gum disease. After a flap surgery, the bone round the tooth will be reshaped to decrease the craters, but also to make it difficult for bacteria to accumulate and develop.
The use of drugs to treat gum disease
Your dentist can prescribe antibiotics that you will need to complete. These will be in conjunction with your surgery or even cleaning. The function of given you antibiotics are to reduce and kill the bacteria that is associated with gum disease. But it can also subdue the annihilation of the tooth’s attachment to the bone.
Alternatively, your dentist can suggest a medicated mouthwash, normally after root planing, that you will need to use for a week to kill the bacteria.
