Bacteria consistently builds up in our mouths over time when we don’t practice good oral hygiene. Unfortunately, this bacteria can easily infect our gums – so much so that we could begin to lose gum tissue and even parts of our bones if we don’t keep our mouths clean and bacteria-free. There are ways to prevent gum disease, ways to treat it, and ways to restore your lost teeth – so before you start worrying about what’s going to happen to your mouth, call or visit your dentist. How do you treat gum disease?
Depending on how severely infected your gum tissue is, your dentist may go about this a couple different ways; scaling and root planing, soft tissue or bone grafts, pocket reduction surgery, or guided tissue regeneration. To determine what treatment route to go, you dentist will examine your mouth, teeth, gums, and bone thoroughly.
Scaling And Root Planing
For more mild cases of periodontitis (gum disease), your dentist will probably recommend scaling and root planing, a non-surgical deep-cleaning that is performed under local anesthetic. In doing this, your dentist will remove all traces of plaque and tartar above and below your gum line to ensure a bacteria-free mouth.
Soft Tissue/Bone Grafts
For moderate to severe cases of gum disease, your dentist will probably recommend that they replace some of your lost bone or gum tissue by grafting it from a different area. Although, if you don’t have a strong enough bone, they can use synthetic bone to help strengthen your natural bone. This will help to keep all of your teeth in place, and if you need tooth restoration – your implants will have something to keep them there!
Pocket Reduction Surgery
Quite often when you have gum disease, your gums start to pull away from your teeth which creates pockets between your gum line and your physical tooth. This is because the bacteria has taken over, and your gums will no longer adhere to your tooth. In order to fix this, dentists perform pocket reduction surgery that will remove all of the plaque and tartar build up from below your gums, and re-fit your gums snugly around your teeth so they can keep bacteria from further damaging any bone or gum tissue.
ABOUT YOUR WACO, TX, DENTIST:
We look forward to providing families with exceptional care and advanced treatment options. To schedule an appointment with Corbet Locke, DDS, contact our Waco, TX, dental office today by calling 254-776-4888. Our office welcomes patients in and around Waco, TX, including Hewitt, McGregor, Woodway, and the surrounding Central Texas communities.