Periodontitis, or gum disease, is something that can happen if you don’t properly care for their teeth. When you don’t brush and floss regularly, bacterial plaque can build up within your mouth.
This plaque often forms in the nooks and crannies of your mouth that are hardest to clean, like along the gum line and in the spaces between your teeth. Over time, bacterial plaque causes inflammation and damage to gum tissue, causing your gums to pull away from the tooth, allowing for the formation of gaps or pockets.
That’s bad because additional plaque, tartar, pus and food debris can collect within these gaps, speeding up the development of gum disease even more.
Most people don’t feel periodontitis developing because it’s often painless. But gum disease can easily wear away the bones in your jaw that anchor your teeth. If nothing is done to stop it, over time your teeth will may fall out.
Gum Disease Symptoms
Swollen or bleeding gums are the most common symptoms of periodontitis. But usually these don’t develop until the gum disease has already been forming for a while.
If you don’t treat periodontitis, it can cause a gradual loss of bone and tooth attachment. It also causes gums to recede and the supporting tissues around your teeth to be permanently damaged.
How to Treat Periodontitis
The most common treatment for gum disease is antibiotics, but these only work if it is caught early enough. Due to the lack of early symptoms, in many cases periodontitis isn’t discovered until the damage is done: The bone anchor for the tooth is already eroded.
When deposits of plaque, tartar, food debris and pus get trapped beneath the gum line and antibiotics have run their course, infection caused by bacteria can simply flare up again.
The most natural way to control infection is non-surgical periodontal therapy. This means educating people on proper daily personal oral hygiene techniques, such as brushing at least twice daily and flossing at least once per day.
Another way to avoid getting gum disease is to schedule regular examinations by your dentist. If periodontitis can be detected before it can cause serious damage to the teeth and gums, it can be treated.
Have a regular check-up at least twice per year and visit your dentist whenever you experience pain, bleeding from the gums or other periodontitis symptoms. It’s also important that you have your teeth cleaned professionally by a dental hygienist.
GUM DISEASE VIDEO
If you are experiencing the symptoms of gum disease, tooth pain or other oral health problems, contact Geelong Dentist Clinic today on 1300 657 033 to book an appointment with our friendly and experienced dental team.