Cosmetic Surgery 101: How Periodontal Treatments Can Improve Your Smile.
Microorganisms like bacteria can stick to the tooth’s surface and in the pockets surrounding the tooth and then multiply. This causes the immune system to react, and when it does, toxins are released, resulting in inflammation.
Periodontal treatments and gum surgery are both surgical and non-surgical therapies that are used in the management of periodontitis, or gum disease, and also as a cosmetic or aesthetic procedure.
Untreated periodontitis can and will eventually result in tooth loss. It can also increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, and other health problems.
The good news, though is, most cases of periodontitis are preventable through good dental hygiene.
What Causes Periodontitis?
Most of the hundreds of different types of bacteria in a healthy mouth are completely harmless. However, when the teeth are not correctly cleaned each day, the bacteria can grow and build upon your teeth resulting in periodontitis.
A dental plaque is formed first, and if it is not removed by brushing, the bacteria deposit minerals within the plaque over time. This is known as tartar and encourages more bacterial growth toward the root of the tooth. This triggers the body’s immune response to this bacterial growth leading to inflammation in the gums. Also, certain factors put you at a higher risk of periodontitis, including smoking, type 2 diabetes, obesity, hormonal changes in women (such as when menstruation, pregnancy, or menopause), which can make the gums more sensitive, immunosuppressive.
What Are The Symptoms Of Periodontitis?
The symptoms depend on the stage of the disease but generally include:
- Gums that bleed when you brush your teeth or floss
- Bad breath
- Receding gums
- The buildup of plaque or tartar on your teeth
- Pain when chewing
- Red, tender, or swollen gums
- Tooth loss
- Foul taste in your mouth
- Changes in the position of your teeth or loose teeth
- The inflammatory response throughout your body
Symptoms are often not very noticeable in the early stages of periodontitis. Your dentist will likely be the first to point them out. You’d therefore need to visit a dentist near you.
Stages Of Periodontitis
As said above that periodontitis starts as inflammation progresses and gets worse over time.
- Inflammation (gingivitis)
Periodontitis begins with inflammation in the gums, known as gingivitis, with one of the first signs of gingivitis being that your gums will bleed when you brush or floss your teeth. Although bacteria are always present in your mouth, they only become harmful when conditions allow them to increase dramatically. This might happen if you don’t brush or floss or get dental cleanings regularly.
- Early periodontal disease
In the early stages of periodontitis, the gums recede, pull away from the teeth, and small pockets between the gums and the teeth and your gum tissue start to recede. There’s the likely experience of you bleeding during brushing and flossing as well, and possibly some bone loss.
- Moderate periodontal disease
If left to progress to moderate periodontal disease, you might experience bleeding and pain around the teeth and gum recession. Your teeth will begin to lose bone support and become loose.
- Advanced periodontal disease
In advanced disease, the connective tissue that holds your teeth in place begins to deteriorate. The gums, bones, and other tissue that support your teeth are destroyed. There is severe pain while chewing, severe bad breath, and you’ll likely lose your teeth.
Periodontal Treatment.
Do not careless and assume that having gum disease is a trivial issue, or you’d take over-the-counter medications and expect that it would resolve on its own.
When you identify symptoms like the above, you’d need to visit a dentist near you, or you book an appointment to see one of our seasoned professional dentists for periodontal treatments in Chantilly, VA.
These treatments could be non-surgical therapies that control bacterial growth or gum surgery to restore supportive tissues.
Non-Surgical Treatments:
- Professional dental cleaning.
- Scaling and root planing
Surgical Treatments.
These include:
- Flap surgery/pocket reduction surgery.
- Bone grafts.
- Soft tissue grafts.
- Guided tissue regeneration
- Bone surgery.