How Does the Dentist Cure Periodontal Disease?

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Periodontitis is a severe gum disease which damages your soft tissues when not treated; periodontitis can destroy the bone that supports your teeth. It can also lead to the loss of your teeth.

Periodontal disease is so common but can be preventable. It is as a result of poor oral hygiene that as failing to brush at least twice a day and not getting regular dental check-ups can lead to periodontal disease. But if you observe good oral hygiene, you can improve the chances of successful treatment and reduce the chance of developing it.

Understanding Periodontal Treatment

When you visit your dentist's office near you, the dentist determines whether you have periodontal disease or how severe it is. This is by:

  • Review your medical history. This will help your dentist identify any factors contributing to your symptoms, such as taking medications that cause dry mouth or smoking.
  • Examining your mouth to check for tartar and plaque build-up and check for any easy bleeding
  • Determining the pocket depth of the groove between your teeth and gums by placing a dental probe beneath your gumline, usually at different sites throughout your mouth. The pocket depth usually has to be between 1-and 3mm. Pockets that are deeper than 4m indicate that you have periodontitis. Pockets that are deeper than 5mm cannot be cleaned well.
  • Taking dental x-rays to check for bone loss in areas where the dentist observes deeper pocket depths.

Periodontal treatment can be performed by a dentist, a periodontist, or a dental hygienist. This treatment is t thoroughly clean the pockets surrounding your teeth and prevent any damage to the surrounding bone.

The treatment can be non-surgical or surgical. Non-surgical treatment procedures that are less invasive such as:

  • Scaling. This involves the removal of bacteria and tartar from the tooth's surface beneath the gums. It may be performed by the use of lasers or ultrasonic devices.
  • Root planing. This procedure smooths the root's surfaces, preventing a build-up of bacteria or tartar, and removes any bacterial products that may contribute to inflammation or delay healing or reattachment of your gum to the tooth surface.
  • Antibiotics. Oral or topical antibiotics can help control bacterial infection. Topical antibiotics include antibiotic mouth rinses or the insertion of gels that have antibiotics in the space between your gums and teeth or into the pockets after the deep cleaning. On the other hand, oral antibiotics may be necessary to completely remove the bacteria that causes the infection.

The surgical treatments include:

  • Flap Surgery. This is also termed pocket reduction surgery. Your dentist will make tiny incisions in your gum to lift a section of your gum tissue to expose its roots for more effective root planing and scaling. The supporting bone can be recontoured before the gum tissue is sutured back if your gum tissue has caused bone loss.
  • Soft tissue grafts. When you lose your gum tissue, the gumline will recede. Therefore, you may need to have the damaged tissue reinforced. This is done by removing a small amount of the tissue on the roof of your mouth or suing one from a donor source and attaching it to the affected site. It helps cover the exposed roots, reduce further gum recession and give your tooth an aesthetic appearance.
  • Bone grafting. Bone grafting is performed if the periodontal disease has damaged the bone surrounding the root of your tooth. The graft may be made up of small fragments of your bone or a donated or synthetic bone. This bone graft helps to prevent tooth loss by holding it in place. It also serves as a base for the regrowth of your natural bone.

How Long Does it Take to Treat A Periodontal Disease?

Depending on how severe your periodontitis is, the timeframe for treating it will differ. For instance, if you have nearly gingivitis, you might see some results after a few weeks. But, for a severe periodontal case, it takes to heal will take some time.

However, as mentioned above, you cannot completely heal from periodontal disease. For a surgical treatment like grafting, it may take a few weeks for the grafts to heal

If you are looking for a dentistry offering periodontics in Austin, TX, visit Peak Dental - North Austin.

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