What do you think of when you think of a healthy mouth and a beautiful smile? The health of your teeth is essential for your oral health. However, another part of your mouth that’s just as important is your gums. Healthy gums, in addition to healthy teeth, help you to maintain the best oral health.
Our San Antonio dentists provide gum disease treatments to help you keep your smile healthy and beautiful. Gum disease poses many issues for your overall health, including infecting healthy gum tissue and tooth loss. Continue reading to learn how we can help you recover from this silent disease.
How Important are the Gums?
While your teeth might seem like the most crucial feature of your mouth, your gums are equally as important. The gums are the soft tissue that surrounds your teeth. Healthy tissue forms a tight seal, protecting your teeth and jawbone. Unhealthy tissue detaches from your teeth and allows bacteria to wreak havoc.
Your gums provide structural support for your teeth and keep them from shifting out of place. Gum tissue is a barrier that prevents harmful bacteria and food from reaching sensitive areas around the tooth roots. Compromised gums can lead to gum recession, tooth decay, and even tooth loss. You can be at a higher risk for these issues if you have gum disease or poor oral hygiene.
What Happens if I Ignore My Gums?
Ignoring your gums and your oral health in general can lead to gum disease. Gum disease develops when plaque and bacteria buildup near your gum line irritates the soft tissue. It might not seem serious when it first develops, but it can quickly get worse.
Gum disease is the leading cause of tooth loss in adults. Advanced stages can also impact your overall health, leaving you at greater risk of developing some severe conditions. Conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and respiratory illnesses have links to advanced gum disease. Maintain good oral hygiene and seek prompt treatment for gum disease to prevent severe complications.
How Do I Know if Something is Wrong?
When gum disease first develops, you might not know anything is wrong. You might notice some redness and swelling in its earliest stages but think nothing of it. Maybe you notice bleeding gums while you brush your teeth. If your gums bleed when you brush or floss your teeth, it’s an early sign that something is wrong.
Bleeding gums are a significant indication of gingivitis, the first stage of gum disease. If you ignore these symptoms, you may begin to notice others, such as gum recession, bad breath, and tooth sensitivity. If you have any of these symptoms or even suspect you have gum disease, scheduling an appointment is a good idea.
How do Dentists Diagnose Gum Issues?
Diagnosing gum disease requires visiting a dentist or periodontist for a dental exam. We will discuss your symptoms and look for plaque buildup during your exam. Our dentist will carefully check your gums for swelling and bleeding.
Then, he will use a special tool to measure the pockets around your teeth. We may also take X-rays to check around your tooth roots for bone loss.
What happens if the dentist diagnoses me with gum disease?
If you receive a diagnosis of gum disease, the dentist will recommend prompt treatment. In addition to diagnosing the condition, we can also determine its severity. This helps us choose the proper treatment for you. Our dentist may recommend one or a combination of the following treatments:
- Scaling and root planing
- Pocket reduction surgery (Osseous surgery)
- Gum flap surgery
- Gum tissue grafting
- Periodontal maintenance
Laser Gum Therapy
Our team has the experience and technology to provide advanced care for all stages of gum disease. Dental lasers can offer exceptional results for treating more advanced gum disease. We offer laser treatment and LANAP for patients with periodontitis.
Laser therapy for gum disease is less invasive and more targeted, allowing our dental care team to address diseased tissue while preserving healthy tissue. Dental lasers also stimulate faster recovery and the regrowth of new tissue after treatment. Laser treatment may be completed in one visit or require a series of visits, as with LANAP, to achieve the desired goal. Using lasers has made it possible for our team to minimize the need for oral surgery and restore gum health even in the event of advanced disease and damage.
Periodontal Disease Maintenance in San Antonio, TX
You most likely already know that regular cleanings are essential to maintaining a healthy mouth and preventing severe issues. However, even with the best care, gum disease can still develop. And when it does, your oral care needs to change.
This includes the type of dental cleanings you get at the dentist. At Advanced Dental Associates, we can help patients with gum disease maintain a healthy mouth with periodontal maintenance.
Periodontal maintenance is a type of deep cleaning that’s different from your standard regular cleanings or prophylaxis. These cleanings help improve your oral and gum health. We will prevent the condition from taking over your mouth and possibly claiming your teeth.
Why Can’t I Have a Regular Cleaning?
For those with good overall dental health, regular dental cleanings every six months are recommended. However, these cleanings only clean the crown surfaces of teeth. With periodontal maintenance cleanings, we clean both the crown surfaces and the surfaces of the teeth’ roots.
These treatments eliminate all buildup above and below your gums. The deep cleaning also smoothes out the surfaces of your teeth so that your soft tissues can begin to reattach. As the tissue reattaches, the pocket depths between your gums and teeth become shallower. In doing so, they will begin to protect your tooth roots and jawbone again.
Another significant difference between regular cleanings and periodontal maintenance cleanings is their frequency. In most cases, you get routine cleanings every six months. Periodontal cleanings are more frequent. The time between your cleanings may become longer as your condition improves.
What if My Condition is Stable?
Even if you have your gum disease under control and your condition is stable, you may still need deep cleanings. These cleanings may be six months apart but are still periodontal maintenance instead of standard prophylaxis. This is because once gum disease occurs, except for gingivitis, it does not ever truly go away. Visiting us for periodontal treatments is crucial for controlling your gum disease and maintaining your oral health.
Is Periodontal Maintenance Billed Differently?
Yes, a periodontal maintenance cleaning is billed differently rather than a standard cleaning. Your insurance may have different coverage for periodontal maintenance. Where it may completely cover a routine cleaning, it may only cover a part of a periodontal maintenance cleaning. Contact your dental insurance provider if you are unsure of your policy.
Treat Gum Disease Today
Periodontal maintenance and gum care can prevent gum disease from taking over your mouth again. We can diagnose and quickly treat your gum disease at Advanced Dental Associates. We also provide restorative dentistry treatments to patients in our San Antonio dental office. For more information, call Advanced Dental Associates at 210-361-6847 today.