At Grace Family Dental, we are committed to your dental hygiene and overall oral health. That is why we are pleased to offer Periodontal Care.
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Airdrie Periodontal Care
What is Periodontal Care
Periodontal care refers to the care and treatment of your gums, bone, and surrounding tissue. It is important that gums remain healthy. Grace Family Dental is here to treat any gum disease and conditions such as gum recession and periodontitis, a bacterial infection that destroys the gums and jawbone that support your teeth. Gum surgery, while more invasive, can address the damage caused by gum disease by repairing the gum tissues and underlying jawbone.
What are the Stages of Periodontal Disease?
Periodontal disease is broken up into four separate stages: gingivitis, slight periodontal disease, moderate periodontal disease, and advanced periodontal disease. Gingivitis is the only stage of periodontal disease that is reversible as it has not yet had time to attach the bones.
What are Some Benefits of Periodontal Gum Care?
- Removes bacteria from beneath the gums
- Makes it easier to clean your teeth
- Reshapes the bones that support your teeth
- Prevents future gum damage.
What are some Symptoms of Gum Disease?
- Gums that are swollen, red or bleeding, with or without pain or discomfort
- Deep gum pockets that form between your gums and teeth
- Loose teeth
- Bad breath
- Pain when chewing
- Gums that recede or pull away from your teeth
How is Periodontitis diagnosed?
To determine whether you have periodontitis and how severe it is, your dentist may:
- Review your medical history to identify any factors that could be contributing to your symptoms, such as smoking or taking certain medications that cause dry mouth.
- Examine your mouth to look for plaque and tartar buildup and check for easy bleeding.
- Measure the pocket depth of the groove between your gums and teeth by placing a dental probe beside your tooth beneath your gumline, usually at several sites throughout your mouth. In a healthy mouth, the pocket depth is usually between 1 and 3 millimeters (mm). Pockets deeper than 4 mm may indicate periodontitis. Pockets deeper than 5 mm cannot be cleaned well.
- Take dental X-rays to check for bone loss in areas where your dentist observes deeper pocket depths.
Your dentist may assign a stage and a grade to periodontitis based on the severity of the disease, the complexity of treatment, your risk factors, and your health.
Periodontal Treatment
Periodontal treatments are the special cleaning of your teeth and gums to help control the bacteria that cause gum disease. The bacteria stick to your teeth, irritate the gums and make them bleed. Gum disease can eventually destroy the gum and bone which support your teeth.
The goal of periodontitis treatment is to thoroughly clean the pockets around teeth and prevent damage to the surrounding bone. You have the best chance for successful treatment when you also adopt a daily routine of good oral care, manage health conditions that may impact dental health, and stop tobacco use.
Nonsurgical treatments
If periodontitis is not advanced, treatment may involve less invasive procedures, including:
- Scaling. Scaling removes tartar and bacteria from your tooth surfaces and beneath your gums. It may be performed using instruments, a laser, or an ultrasonic device.
- Root planing. Root planing smooths the root surfaces, discouraging further buildup of tartar and bacteria, and removes bacterial byproducts that contribute to inflammation and delay healing or reattachment of the gum to the tooth surfaces.
- Antibiotics. Topical or oral antibiotics can help control bacterial infection. Topical antibiotics can include antibiotic mouth rinses or insertion of gels containing antibiotics in the space between your teeth and gums or into pockets after deep cleaning. However, oral antibiotics may be necessary to completely eliminate infection-causing bacteria.
Surgical treatments
If you have advanced periodontitis, treatment may require dental surgery, such as:
- Flap surgery (pocket reduction surgery). Your periodontist makes tiny incisions in your gum so that a section of gum tissue can be lifted back, exposing the roots for more effective scaling and root planing. Because periodontitis often causes bone loss, the underlying bone may be recontoured before the gum tissue is sutured back in place. After you heal, it’s easier to clean these areas and maintain healthy gum tissue
- Soft tissue grafts. When you lose gum tissue, your gum line recedes. You may need to have some of the damaged soft tissue reinforced. This is usually done by removing a small amount of tissue from the roof of your mouth (palate) or using tissue from another donor source and attaching it to the affected site. This can help reduce further gum recession, cover exposed roots, and give your teeth a more pleasing appearance.
- Bone grafting. This procedure is performed when periodontitis has destroyed the bone surrounding your tooth root. The graft may be composed of small fragments of your own bone, or the bone may be synthetic or donated. The bone graft helps prevent tooth loss by holding your tooth in place. It also serves as a platform for the regrowth of natural bone.
- Guided tissue regeneration. This allows the regrowth of bone that was destroyed by bacteria. In one approach, your dentist places a special piece of biocompatible fabric between existing bone and your tooth. The material prevents unwanted tissue from entering the healing area, allowing bone to grow back instead.
- Tissue-stimulating proteins. Another technique involves applying a special gel to a diseased tooth root. This gel contains the same proteins found in developing tooth enamel and stimulates the growth of healthy bone and tissue.
Your Grace Family Dentist will let you know if you could benefit from periodontal care.
Our Featured General & Family Dentistry Services
At Grace Family Dental, our goal is to deliver comprehensive family and general dental services to provide our patients with the highest quality of affordable dental care possible. Our Dental Team is committed to providing you and your whole family with the comprehensive oral health care you need.
Call Grace Family Dental at
(403) 980-7555
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Grace Family Dental Online Reviews
Amazing dental office with a knowledgeable and warm staff. For years I travelled back into North Calgary fearing I'd never find a local dentist who was as good. I tried them after their office opened near my home and I am very happy to say I've found my next family dentist!
