|
Periodontal Disease
Periodontal disease is an infection of the teeth,
gums, and the bone that surrounds the teeth. Most people who have
periodontal disease aren't even aware of it. It's rarely painful,
especially in the early stages.
The main cause of periodontal disease
is the accumulation of plaque. Plaque is the sticky film of food
and bacteria that forms constantly on your teeth. It's hard to
see plaque. You must remove all of the plaque each day, or it
builds up and mineralizes to become tartar, which is also called
calculus. It takes professional help to remove tartar. There's
no way for you to remove it at home. A toothbrush or floss won't
even budge it. If it isn't removed, it starts to get onto the
root surfaces.
Some of the warning signs of periodontal
disease are:
- persistent bad breath
- bleeding of the gums when brushing
or flossing
- soft, swollen or tender gums
- gums shrinking away from the teeth
- loose teeth
- and changes in the spaces between
your teeth, which reflect changes in the underlying bone
- A person can also have periodontal
disease and experience none of these warning signs.
The roots of the teeth extend into the bone of
the jaw. When everything is healthy, the bone comes up around
the necks of the teeth, and it's even throughout the mouth.
A sulcus is the crevice between the tooth and the
gums. A healthy sulcus is two to three millimeters deep. When
plaque and tartar invade a sulcus and it becomes deeper than three
millimeters, we call it a pocket. Once bone has been lost, it
never grows back. When too much bone is lost, there's so little
support for the teeth, they get loose and have to be removed.
Since you may have periodontal disease, yet have
none of the symptoms, at  clinics
we perform a thorough examination using X-rays and a periodontal
probe to measure bone levels around the teeth. When the bone level
falls, the gums pull away from the tooth, forming a pocket. We
measure the depth of this pocket with a periodontal probe. The
measurement is from the bottom of the pocket, where the gum is
attached to the tooth, to the top of the gums. Healthy gums are
tight against the teeth and there aren't any pockets. The difference
with early periodontal disease is the deeper pockets which means
there is a greater spread of periodontal disease. Bleeding is
a sign of infection.
Healthy gums don't bleed!
So now you know how our professionals at diagnose
periodontal disease: probe readings greater then three millimeters,
bleeding upon probing, swollen and red gums, especially between
the teeth, and bone loss or tartar on the X-rays.
Top
of Page
Gingivitis
Gingivitis is a swelling and discoloration of
the gums. There is usually no pain or discomfort associated with
gingivitis. It's the mildest form of gum disease, and its effects
are reversible. However, gingivitis can be the gateway to periodontal
disease, a much more serious condition, which can lead to irreversible
bone loss and eventually tooth loss.
 The
main cause of both gingivitis and periodontal disease is the accumulation
of plaque. Plaque is the sticky film of food and bacteria that
forms constantly on your teeth. You must remove all of the plaque
each day, or it builds up and mineralizes to become tartar. Bacteria
that thrive in tartar produce toxins. It's these toxins, combined
with your body's reaction to them, that destroy bone around your
teeth. Once bone has been lost, it never grows back. When too
much bone is lost, there is little support for the teeth. They
get loose and have to be removed.
That's why it's vital that we treat gingivitis
early, before it can progress. Though most people aren't aware
that they have gingivitis, they warning signs are: redness where
the gums and teeth meet, swollen gums, bleeding when brushing
and flossing, and bad breath.
To determine whether or not you have gingivitis,
our professionals at your 7DENTAL clinic will perform a thorough
examination. We'll look for any changes in the gum's shape, color
and contour, and bleeding in the gums upon probing. If we determine
that you do have gingivitis, treatment always includes a professional
cleaning, which removes plaque from the teeth, as well as a consistent
homecare regime, and a revisit schedule.
In some cases, additional steps are required, which
could include: using a disclosing solution to determine where
the plaque is, a review of the proper use of a manual or electric
toothbrush, the use of dental floss to clean between teeth, and
using an antibacterial rinse to help kill destructive bacteria.
It's important to catch and treat gingivitis early, before it
progresses and results in the bone loss of periodontal disease.
Top of Page
Smoking
& Periodontal Disease
By now almost everyone knows that cigarette smoking
has been linked with lung disease, cancer and heart disease. But
most people aren't aware of the effects of smoking on their oral
health, and its role in increasing the risk of periodontal disease.
Smokers are more likely
to have: calculus, which is plaque that hardens on your
teeth, deep pockets between your teeth and gums, the loss of bone
and tissue that support your teeth, and chronic periodontal disease.
Periodontal disease is an infection of the teeth, gums, and the
bone that surrounds the teeth. To understand how smoking increases
your risk of periodontal disease, it's important to understand
how the disease develops.
The main cause of periodontal disease is plaque.
Plaque is the sticky film of food and bacteria that forms constantly
on your teeth. You must remove all of the plaque each day, or
it builds up and mineralizes to become tartar, which is also called
calculus. It takes professional help to remove tartar. There's
no way for you to remove it at home; a toothbrush or floss won't
even budge it. Bacteria that thrive in plaque and calculus produce
toxins, and it's these toxins, combined with your body's reaction
to them, that destroys bone around your teeth.
Smoking helps cause periodontal disease in several
ways. It reduces the amount of saliva production and therefore
the number of disease fighting antibodies that are in saliva.
Lower saliva production also causes increased plaque and calculus
formation, and it damages your immune system, causes blood vessels
to constrict throughout your entire body, which reduces blood
flow. Since your body needs white blood cells to fight off infection,
the reduction in blood flow to your gums makes it more difficult
for your body to fight the disease-causing bacteria in your mouth.
Besides contributing to the onset of periodontal
disease, continuing smoking after your treatment makes it much,
much harder for your gums to heal. To successfully treat periodontal
disease, we remove all of the plaque and bacteria from your teeth.
It's critical for you to then maintain a plaque-free mouth. The
reduction of saliva caused by smoking makes that job much harder.
As we've learned, if you're a smoker, your immune system may not
be up to the task. There are more than four thousand chemicals
found in a cigarette smoke, including formaldehyde, carbon monoxide,
ammonia and arsenic.
The bottom line:
Smokers are four times more likely to have advanced periodontal
disease and twice as likely to lose their teeth. So if you haven't
yet considered quitting smoking, now you know another benefit.
By becoming a non-smoker, you can strengthen the fight against
periodontal disease and keep your teeth!
Top of Page
3-Month Re-Care
 If
you have a history of periodontal disease, it's vital that we
keep a close eye on the health of your gums so we can prevent
a recurrence of this destructive infection. But if you've been
treated for periodontal disease, why should you worry about recurrence?
Because periodontal disease cannot be cured. It can only be controlled.
And if it isn't closely monitored and controlled by a professional,
over time periodontal disease can eventually cause you to lose
your teeth.
At clinics,
usually, if we're concerned about the depth of your periodontal
pockets, we'll recommend periodontal therapy called scaling and
root planing to remove contamination and infection from beneath
your gums. Following this treatment, we'll have you come to see
us every few months for ongoing care, which may include X-rays,
a re-evaluation of your periodontal health and the effectiveness
of your home-care, removal of plaque above and beneath the gum
line, and re-treatment with scaling and root planing, if necessary.
These frequent checkups are vital to the process of controlling
your periodontal disease.
It's important that you know that periodontal disease
is site specific. What this means, is that you may experience
a flare-up of the infection in just one periodontal pocket out
of the possible 192 that exist in your mouth, and bone and tissue
loss might occur in only this isolated area, or it might be more
widespread. Consequently, if we aren't checking regularly for
this type of damage or change in your gums, you would have no
way of knowing that it's occurring, and the destruction would
continue unchecked. After we've treated your periodontal disease
by removing plaque from above and below your gum line, we've disrupted
the growth of the bacteria. Still, some do remain, and these may
settle back into the pocket and once again begin the process of
repopulating and destroying bone and soft tissue. In as little
as 90 days, the bacteria can reach destructive levels once again.
Because of the episodic nature of periodontal disease, and in
light of the fact that periodontal disease can re-establish itself
in as little as 90 days, the typical six-month re-care appointment
just isn't advisable for those who have periodontal disease.
Statistics support that re-evaluation and re-care is critical
at least every three or four months. More frequent visits are
a vital step in maintaining your oral health. They help us break
the stronghold of bacteria in your gums, minimize the recurrence
of the infection, and slow or eliminate its destructive effects.
Top of Page
Ultra-Sonic
Scaling
Periodontal disease, an infection of the teeth,
gums, and the bone that surround the teeth, is the number-one
cause of adult tooth loss. Periodontal disease begins when plaque,
the sticky film of the food and bacteria, builds up. If the plaque
is not removed, it hardens into calculus, also called tartar.
The buildup of plaque and tartar dramatically increases the number
of harmful bacteria in your mouth, and can result in deepening
spaces between the tooth and gum, called pockets. The bacteria
also trigger your body's immune system to produce enzymes. It's
these enzymes that destroy the bone around your teeth, and ultimately
leads to tooth loss. To fight periodontal disease, we need to
remove the plaque and calsulus, and reduce the amount of bacteria
in the pockets in your mouth.
One device that our professionals at your
clinic use to remove calculus from teeth is called an ultrasonic
scaler. It consists of a wand with a small scaling tip that produces
a soft ultrasonic vibration. The small quick vibrations in combination
with a gentle water flow give us a whole new level of effectiveness
in calculus removal. The benefits are increased efficiency of
calculus removal, less need for hand removal of stubborn deposits,
and the small tips allow more comfortable access to root surfaces.
The ultrasonic scaler thoroughly removes calculus, while decreasing
the number of destructive bacteria from below the gum line. It's
an important tool in the prevention and treatment of periodontal
disease.
Top of Page
Root Planning
The goal of root planning is to eliminate the
source of periodontal infection by removing the plaque, tartar
and bacterial toxins from the root surfaces. Tartar shows up on
X-rays as small white lumps on the sides of the teeth. Routine
cleanings remove plaque and tartar from above the gum line. Root
planning removes plaque and tartar from below the gum line. To
keep you comfortable, we usually numb you before root planning
begins. Using instruments, your
professionals carefully and meticulously plane the root surfaces.
Once the source of infection is removed, your gums begin to heal.
As they heal, your gums will tighten around your teeth.
Home-care is the key to keeping this healing going.
Since brushing and flossing only go about 3 millimeters below
the gum line, something more is needed to clean the deeper pockets
of periodontal disease. We'll give you the tools and techniques
to do it as part of your treatment.
Normally, we spread root planing across several
appointments. This way we can check the healing and help you fine-tune
your home-care efforts.
Top of Page |
Extractions
