Daily Archives: May 11, 2012

America Dental Association has estimated that about 50% of adults over the age of 18 have early signs of periodontal disease.

Bad breath is a common sign of periodontal disease that happens when your gums become so infected that the gums begin to ooze and suffer consumes the infection.

Your gums are what hold your teeth in place and chronic periodontal disease is a major cause of tooth loss in adults.  Your teeth can be free of decay but you can still suffer from periodontal disease and your teeth in result can be lost.  There are some risk factors of developing periodontal disease smoking, oral hygiene, age, diabetes, bacteria and also your genetic disposition.

Periodontal disease is when the gums start to become inflamed and infected with mucus, food particles bacteria and accumulated plaque.  Gums will start to swell at this point so much that more plaque and food gets trapped in the pocket.  You will notice at this time your gums are no longer pink and taught they now begin to look puffy, swollen, red and frequently bleeding.

There are alternatives to treating periodontal disease by non surgical treatment such as a prescription mouth rinse in conjunction with brushing and flossing daily.  For patients with more sever periodontal disease you may want to have a much deeper cleaning were the hygienist does one side of the mouth at a time.  The hygienist then will get down to the base of the root and remove the calculus deposits that may be present.  The hygienist will then flush out any bacteria or disease present in the gums.  This is a pain free procedure that doesn’t always call for a needle.  The hygienist also has a numbing gel called ORIKIS that numbs the gums long enough to clean the teeth.  Also if you have deep pockets of more then 5mms deep the hygienist can also place a site specific antibiotic that is called ARESIN. The hygienist places the antibiotic in the deepest pockets that hardens over time with your blood and saliva.  The ARESIN stays active for 21 days and helps clear up bacteria and infection caused by periodontal disease. Once the infection and bacteria is cleared up or under control the gums will start to adhere back to the roots of the teeth.  After the periodontal disease is under control you must have more frequent cleaning recalls every 3 months to check the healing and monitor the periodontal disease to make sure the gums stay clean of debris that may get trapped in the gums.  This insures the healing of periodontal disease. After the periodontal disease continues to heal you may eventually start having 4 month cleaning recalls.  Again your mouth must be closely monitored to insure healing of periodontal disease. You will remain on 3 or 4 month recalls.