Your gums play a significant role than just giving you an appealing look. Gums help stabilize your teeth and form a seal protecting your teeth and underlying bone from infection. Unfortunately, when gum disease wreaks havoc on your healthy gums, you will likely experience functional and cosmetic challenges that impact your smile in the long term.
The good news is that you can enjoy effective gum disease treatment in South Pasadena, California. At Huntington Dental Excellence, we have advanced periodontal treatments that can help you regain a functional, confident smile.
Gum disease explained
Before jumping into treatment, it’s essential to understand more about gum disease. Mainly, gum disease occurs due to poor oral hygiene. When plaque is left on your teeth, it hardens into tartar, which causes gum inflammation when it extends beneath the gum line. When this happens, gums pull away from the teeth to form pockets. Plaque becomes trapped in these pockets and can’t be removed with regular brushing.
The initial stage of gum disease is called gingivitis. This stage of gum disease is reversible since the infection hasn’t attacked the bone yet. Bleeding gums when brushing is the typical symptom of gingivitis, but sometimes it’s accompanied by swollen gums.
If left unchecked, it’s only a matter of time before gingivitis advances into full-blown periodontitis. By this time, your teeth-supporting structures are compromised, and you start experiencing loose teeth, gum deterioration, and chronic bad breath.
Different stages of gum disease
Gingivitis treatment
One of the most effective methods of fighting gum disease at the early stages is deep cleaning. This treatment has two parts. Scaling is the removal of plaque and tartar below and above the gums, all the way into the pockets. Root planing is smoothing out the teeth to remove plaque and encourage reattachment of the gums onto the teeth. Deep dental cleaning is normally done utilizing a gel anesthetic to eliminate any discomfort.
Depending on the severity of your gum disease, you may need more than one session of scaling and root planing.
Periodontal Scaling & Root Planing in South Pasadena, California
