A Thorough Explanation of Gum Disease
Gum disease is an inflammation of the gums around the teeth and is a result of improper dental hygiene. The lack of proper dental hygiene allows bacteria and tartar to remain on the teeth and infect the gums.
Gum disease, also known as gingivitis, has factors that increase the risk of developing this condition. You could be vulnerable to gum disease if you are:
- Regularly smoking or chewing tobacco and preventing the gum tissue from healing correctly.
- You have crooked, overlapping, or rotated teeth notorious for plaque and tartar to accumulate and challenging to clean.
- You are undergoing treatment for cancer, which may have made you susceptible to developing gum disease.
- You consume alcohol excessively, which negatively affects the mechanisms of the oral defense.
Besides the above, many other reasons are contributors to the rise of gum disease in your mouth. Gum disease is entirely preventable, but if allowed to infect your mouth and is left untreated can progress to periodontitis, which affects the structures surrounding and supporting your bone and teeth.
How Do You Develop Gum Disease?
Gum disease starts when food debris mixes with saliva and bacteria to convert into dental plaque sticking to the surfaces of your teeth. When you don’t remove dental plaque by brushing and flossing, it becomes mineralized to form tartar. Brushing and flossing alone won’t remove tartar, which is hard and needs assistance from a dentist mesa, AZ, for the removal. Harmful bacteria populate both plaque and tartar and begin to irritate your gums to develop into gingivitis. When left untreated, gingivitis progresses to periodontitis and affects by jawbone beneath your gums.
What Are the Symptoms of Gum Disease?
If you are affected by the disease will likely have one or more of the following signs and symptoms.
- You have swollen, and bright red gums bleed easily even during routine brushing and flossing.
- White spots or plaque develop on your gums.
- You have a foul taste and persistent bad breath.
- Your gums look like receiving from the teeth.
- You observe changes in the way your teeth fit together.
- You have loose teeth or experience tooth loss.
When gingivitis progresses to a chronic condition, it causes various complications, and you may experience receding gums or areas where the root of your tooth becomes visible. You may develop deep pockets around your teeth, trapping food, plaque, and debris. The changes may occur rapidly or even at a slow pace to affect either a few teeth or your entire mouth. When you don’t maintain appropriate dental hygiene, your immune system becomes suppressed, causing you to develop acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis, which is a painful condition.
Diagnosing Gum Disease
When you visit Family Dentistry in Mesa, AZ, for routine checkups, your dentist or dental hygienist will measure the depth of the pockets around your teeth in the mouth at least once every year. Dentists take x-rays to determine the underlying bone level and understand whether a bone loss has occurred due to the condition.
The dentist in East Mesa, AZ, will examine the sensitivity of your teeth while also checking for loose teeth and your gums. If your teeth are sensitive around the gum line, it is an indicator of receding gums.
What Are Your Treatment Options for Gum Disease?
The dentist aims to identify and eliminate the factors making you more vulnerable to gum disease. If you establish consistent, thorough dental hygiene habits and visit the Mesa dentist for regular exams and cleanings, most factors making you vulnerable are eliminated. The dentist also advises changes in your lifestyle habits and recommends quitting smoking or considers factors like diabetes that may be contributing to the condition affecting you.
After eliminating the plaque and tartar on your teeth by the dentist or dental hygienist, you can continue maintaining excellent oral hygiene by brushing and flossing after every meal. You will be recommended a prescription mouth rinse targeting oral bacteria that causes gum disease. The mouth rinse is incredibly helpful in patients with oral hygiene habits impaired because of age or other special needs. However, if gum disease is left to progress to the severe condition of periodontitis may need intensive treatments from the dentists, including surgery and frequent appointments for cleanings and exams that will take plenty of time and money.
Gum disease develops mainly because you are not giving your mouth proper attention. You can easily prevent gum disease by maintaining proper dental hygiene and visiting your dentist for routine exams and cleanings.