Periodontitis, sometimes referred to as advanced gum disease, is a serious issue. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that as many as 50 percent of all adults over 30 in the United States suffer from this condition. They are in serious need of advanced periodontal therapy in order to avoid losing teeth, dealing with painful gums, and other dental issues. Unfortunately, some people don’t realize they have a need for advanced periodontal therapy. Others may not have the financial resources to see a periodontist. The first step is to identify that you’re suffering from periodontitis. Then you can consider seeking advanced periodontal therapy before the disease reaches that point that you start losing teeth. How Do You Reach the Point that You Need Advanced Periodontal TherapyMany people have heard about gingivitis or gum disease. Many people deal with gingivitis, but some don’t realize that it’s the first stage of what later becomes periodontitis. Gingivitis begins when you don’t remove the plaque from your teeth. This plaque includes bacteria that slowly seep into your gums, infecting them. That’s when they start to become swollen and appear red. If you brush them, they usually start to bleed. The good news is that at this point, you don’t need advanced periodontal therapy. All you need to do is get a professional cleaning from your dentist and begin practicing good oral hygiene. By brushing and flossing regularly, you can defeat gingivitis before it becomes more serious. Unfortunately, if you don’t treat it, gingivitis does progress into periodontitis. This happens when the bacteria in the gums start to affect the ligaments and bone of the mouth. This is where your teeth are anchored. As the bacteria cause the ligaments to weaken and the bone to thin, your teeth won’t be as strong. Some may even become loose and fall out. Without advanced periodontal therapy, you could even lose most of your teeth to this disease. You’re also likely to experience a good amount of pain from eating and drinking, especially as the roots of the teeth become exposed. Types of Advanced Periodontal TherapThere are a number of different types of advanced periodontal therapy that can help you battle advanced gum disease. The first thing your periodontist may try is a nonsurgical form of treatment. This method is known as scaling and root planning or SRP. The denial starts by scraping off all of the plaque or tartar that has built up on your teeth. They also use a process called scaling that removes the tartar and plaque from the root surfaces. Next, they smooth out any rough areas near the roots to stop bacteria from collecting there again. You may need several of these treatments to truly deal with periodontitis. Unfortunately, if your gum disease is fairly advanced, you may need a surgical form of advanced periodontal therapy. These methods are more likely to succeed in treating periodontitis, but they are more involved and can be more painful. The first method often used is called a pocket reduction. If your gums aren’t growing back around your teeth, you may need this done. The periodontist will fold your gums back, remove the bacteria, and smooth out the area. This helps the gums reattach and remain healthy. Gum grafts are another way of dealing with gums that aren’t reattaching as they should. If your gums have receded so much that the roots of your teeth are exposed, the periodontist may need to remove some of the tissue from the palate and actually graft it onto the gum. This advanced periodontal therapy will help protect the roots of the teeth and can reduce the pain you feel from eating or drinking. Another form of advanced periodontal therapy is to graft bone into the area where bacteria have eaten away some of the existing bone. The periodontist first cleans the area to remove bacteria before grafting bone onto the area. This bone can be natural bone taken from other parts of the bone, or it can be synthetic. The periodontist also adds proteins to the area that help promote tissue and bone growth. Follow-up to Advanced Periodontal TherapyOnce you’ve had advanced periodontal therapy, you will likely need to return to your periodontist or dentist regularly. These first visits will be to check on your gums and make certain the treatment is working. If it’s not, you may need another form of advanced periodontal therapy. Once the periodontist is satisfied that the periodontitis has been dealt with, you will need to regularly go in for cleanings and checkups. It’s very easy for gingivitis to return, especially if you don’t brush and floss as you should. Once your gums start to become sensitive and hurt or bleed when brushing, you’re even more likely to stop practicing good oral hygiene. When that happens, you’re likely to move into periodontitis again. There are some other things your periodontist will urge you to do when you’ve been diagnosed with gingivitis or periodontitis. You should stop smoking, since that makes it more difficult for the body to heal and can lead to a host of other health problems. You should also cut back on how many sugary snacks and soft drinks you consume. Those will only lead to worsening oral health. Are You in Need of Advanced Periodontal Therapy? If your gums are sensitive or swollen, if you have loose teeth, or if you have pain in your mouth, you may be in need of advanced periodontal therapy. When you develop periodontitis, you can’t treat it on your own. You need to see a specialized periodontist rather than a general dentist. That’s because these experts have additional training in advanced periodontal therapy and understand the many different illnesses that periodontitis can cause. They can help heal your gums and may even be able to prevent you from needing teeth extracted.
Contact Walker Periodontics & Implant dentistry today at (972) 462-9800 to learn more about how you can benefit from advanced periodontal therapy.
13 Comments
7/23/2018 06:46:06 pm
That's interesting that if your don't take care of gingivitis that the bacteria can seep into your ligaments and bone of your mouth which could then cause your teeth to become loose and fall out. My grandma was telling me that when she brushes her teeth that her gums start to bleed so she now avoids it. We'll have to find her a dentist to go to so she can get her gums checked to see if she has gingivitis so she can get it corrected and avoid getting peritonitis and having her teeth fall out.
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9/28/2018 01:53:35 pm
You make a great point that if you are suffering from periodontitis it is important to get treatment because otherwise, you will lose most of your teeth because of the disease. My mom has been suffering from a lot of gum pain and she has difficulty eating or drinking because of the pain, so she is considering getting treatment for it. The fact that there are a few different types of treatment gives me peace of mind because this way the dentist can choose an individualized plan to help my mom reduce her pain and eat more normally. Also, I had no idea that the dentist can even actually add protein to your gums to provide tissue and bone growth! I will make sure to share these benefits with my mom because they could drastically improve her quality of life.
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11/29/2018 01:50:53 pm
It is really interesting that when someone has bad gum disease that periodontal surgery can be performed as treatment. If I had bad gum disease then that is something that I would like to have. Usually, I prefer to have the surgeries instead of more painful types of therapy.
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2/28/2019 01:51:08 pm
Something I would want to do if I had periodontitis is to get some periodontal therapy. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about losing my teeth anytime soon. My teeth are really nice to have, and I want to keep them as long as I can.
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4/12/2019 03:33:23 pm
That is interesting that getting advanced periodontal therapy can help you, but you will need to return for a follow-up. Maybe it would be good to get periodontal therapy to help out my teeth. This is something I am going to have to look into getting sometime soon.
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6/4/2020 10:02:30 pm
Periodontitis is the most common localized dental inflammatory disease related with several pathological conditions like inflammation of gums (gingivitis), degeneration of periodontal ligament, dental cementum and alveolar bone loss. In this perspective, the various preventive and treatment modalities, including oral hygiene, gingival irrigations, mechanical instrumentation, full mouth disinfection, host modulation and antimicrobial therapy, which are used either as adjunctive treatments or as stand-alone therapies in the non-surgical management of periodontal infections, have been discussed. Intra-pocket, sustained release systems have emerged as a novel paradigm for the future research.
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7/9/2020 03:58:50 pm
The periodontitis is the most common localized dental inflammatory disease related with several pathological conditions like inflammation of gums (gingivitis), degeneration of periodontal ligament, dental cementum and alveolar bone loss. In this perspective, the various preventive and treatment modalities, including oral hygiene, gingival irrigations, mechanical instrumentation, full mouth disinfection, host modulation and antimicrobial therapy, which are used either as adjunctive treatments or as stand-alone therapies in the non-surgical management of periodontal infections, have been discussed.
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12/23/2020 01:05:17 pm
My cousin has been thinking about taking better care of periodontal therapy to improve how her teeth look. Making sure that she can get the procedures done by a professional in order to be more effective. It was interesting to learn about how gingivitis, and periodontitis can be fixed by some proper flossing, and brushing.
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4/22/2021 12:19:11 pm
Thanks for sharing such great information. It is really helpful to me. I always search to read the quality content and finally I found your post. Keep it up, keep posting!
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11/2/2021 08:47:40 pm
Thank you for this very informative blog post! Periodontal disease is an oral infection, which is commonly called gum disease. Periodontal disease is caused by bacteria in the mouth attaching to the gums and teeth. The bacteria will cause redness, swelling, and irritation of the gums. The periodontum tissue will start to pull away from the teeth due to inflammation. This leads to loss of bone height because it's being destroyed by bacteria. The infected tissue can't attach back onto the tooth because it's too far deteriorated. This will lead to loss of bone because no one can attach it back onto teeth anymore.
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It's fascinating to know that if someone has severe gum disease, periodontal surgery is able to be done as a treatment. If I suffered from bad gum disease, that's something I would love to be able to get. In general, I prefer having these surgeries instead of more painful forms of treatment.
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Stephen S. Walker, D.D.S., M.S.Dr. Walker is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Periodontology. He grew up in Dallas and attended Baylor College of Dentistry. While at Baylor, he was a member of the Odontological Honors Society and was selected to receive the Oral Biology Award and Merritt-Parks Award in Periodontics. Archives
July 2018
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