A Simple Guide to Healthier and Better Gums

Although many Americans have gum disease without even knowing it, no one really likes to think about the possibility. Untreated gum disease that can ultimately lead to various other health problems, is an even more serious fact.

The bacteria that puts a person at risk for heart attack and heart disease, by winding its way to the heart through the bloodstream, is matter-of-factly, the same bacteria that causes disease of the gums. In order to prevent harmful and much larger problems, it is of utmost importance to recognize the symptoms and signs of gum disease!

The Symptoms and Signs of Gum Disease

Even in the latest stages of gum disease, it may produce few obvious signs, and it could progress painlessly. Periodontal disease is not entirely without warning signs, although the condition often produces symptoms that are subtle. Some forms of the disease can have certain symptoms that point to it.  Gum disease symptoms include:

• Shifting or loose teeth
• Formation between the teeth and gums that form deep pockets
• Gums that have receded
• Bad taste in the mouth or bad breath that is persistent
• Tender, red or swollen gums
• Gums that bleed during and after brushing your teeth
• Changes in the way partial dentures fit, or the way teeth fit together after biting down

You could still have gum disease, even if there are no noticeable symptoms. Gum disease may only affect certain teeth, such as the molars or bicuspids, in some people. The progression or even the recognition of gum disease can only be determined by a dentist or Periodontist.

When proper control of plaque is practiced, in nearly all cases gum disease can be reversed. Daily brushing and flossing of teeth, and professional cleanings at least twice a year are the proper ways to control plaque. Where flossing removes plaque and food particles from under the gum line and in between the teeth, plaque is eliminated from the tooth surface that can be reached by consistent brushing. According to the American Dental Association, the bacteria that causes gum disease and plaque can be reduced with antibacterial gum rinses.

Some further lifestyle and health changes that decrease the speed of gum disease development, and its’ severity and risks are:

• The maintenance of a well-balanced diet, so the immune system can help fight infection through proper nutrition. You can help your body repair tissue that has been damaged by eating foods with antioxidant properties.
• Stress reduction…It may be more difficult for your body’s immune system to fight off infection with the presence of stress.
• Cease smoking…One of the key risk factors for the development of periodontitis is the use of tobacco. The success chances of some dental treatments are lowered by smoking, and smokers are SEVEN TIMES more likely than non-smokers to develop gum disease!
• Grinding and clenching your teeth should always be avoided. The rate at which the supporting tissues of the teeth are destroyed may increase, and these actions may put excessive force on those tissues.

Some gum disease treatments are surgical.  Here are some examples:

• Bone surgery. Due to advanced and even moderate bone loss, shallow craters in the bone must be smoothed out. In order to decrease these craters, the bone around the tooth is reshaped following flap surgery, thus making it more difficult for the growth and collection of bacteria.
• Pocket reduction and flap surgery. Tartar is removed in this procedure, as the gums are lifted back. In order to limit areas where disease-causing bacteria can hide, irregular surfaces of the damaged tooth are smoothed in some cases. This method reduces the size of the space between the teeth and gums, then the gums are replaced allowing the tissue to fit more snugly around the teeth. Now the chance of serious health problems that are associated with periodontal disease are decreased because the places or areas where harmful bacteria can grow are decreased.
• Guided regeneration of tissue. This procedure stimulates gum tissue and bone growth, and is performed when their has been destruction of the bone supporting you’re teeth. A small piece of mesh-like fabric is inserted between the gum tissue and bone, and is performed in combination with the flap surgery mentioned above. This allows the connective tissue and bone to support the teeth better through regrowth, and prevents the gum tissue from invading the area where the bone should be.
• Grafting of soft tissue. Filling in places where there has been the recession of gums, thin gums are reinforced with this procedure. Adding tissue, which has most often been taken from the roof of the mouth, to the affected area by stitching it in place, is a process known as grafting.
• Bone grafts. In order to replace bone that gum disease has destroyed, bone grafts involve donated bone, your own bone, or even synthetic bone. Restoring stability to teeth is performed on the platform of bone regrowth, that is made possible by the grafts. Your own body can be encouraged to regenerate tissue and bone at a faster rate by a new technology called tissue engineering.

All that’s needed, in some cases, in the treatment of gum diseases is a nonsurgical procedure called scaling and root planing. When the tissue around the teeth is not healthy, and simply can’t be surgically repaired, then surgery will be needed.

Please call our office today for an appointment if you have any of the above mentioned symptoms. It would certainly be a good idea to come in for a complete exam!