Treatment of Gum Disease |
Gum disease treatment is one of the most common dental treatments performed by dentists, along with dental fillings. Almost 90% of the population will need gum disease (periodontal disease) treatment some time in their life.
With periodontal disease being the number one cause of tooth loss, gum disease treatments are extremely important for the preservation of teeth and maintaining good oral health and proper mouth functionality.
The increase of life expectancy and the focus on better quality of life has made the treatment of gum disease much more important than in previous generations. Having to wear dentures for several years because they had lost their teeth from periodontitis and tooth decay might have been expected for our grandfathers but no more in modern societies. Especially in our time when the advances in dentistry have to offer us several types of effective treatments for gum disease.
Gum disease is the result of bacterial infection of periodontal tissues. Several causes may lead to gum health problems, however the main cause of gum disease is considered the growth of dental plaque due to poor oral hygiene.
In the first stage of gum disease, called gingivitis, the infection causes inflammation of gingival tissues with only mild symptoms such as redness and tenderness of the gums. Gingivitis is a reversible form of gum disease that does not cause permanent damages. If the gum disease is not treated early, it progresses to the more severe form, periodontitis, that causes irreversible damages to periodontal tissues. Lack of proper gum disease treatment may cause a number of severe dental problems that include:
When periodontal disease has been diagnosed, the main therapeutic goals of periodontal therapy / treatment are to:
The treatment of gum disease is simple and easy in its early stages of mild gingivitis. For that reason, early symptoms of periodontal disease should not be ignored. You should visit your dentist for consultation immediately if you notice redness, tenderness or bleeding of the gums.
Regular dental visits every 6 months are also very important for the successful treatment of gum disease, because the dentist can identify signs of periodontal disease that may be still not be noticed by the patient. If gum disease is diagnosed, the type of treatment that will be recommended by the dentist depends on several factors:
The dentist or the periodontist can perform a series of different dental procedures for the treatment of gum disease depending on the progress of the damage in the tissues surrounding teeth. These can be categorized in:
Gum disease treatment procedures that do not include surgery are usually enough for the treatment of mild cases of gingivitis in the early stages of periodontal disease. They include:
In the advanced stages of periodontal disease, treatments that involve gum surgery are necessary to either restore some of the damage caused to periodontal tissues or to create a more maintainable periodontal environment to prevent the recurrence of the disease. They include:
The gum disease treatment process may be divided into 3 phases: