Things to Know Before Periodontal Treatment 

When it comes to dental problems, how much do you know that does not directly concern teeth. Dental problems do not always focus on the health of teeth. Ideally, dentistry exists to cater to the entire oral cavity, and this includes the gums. Unfortunately, periodontal disease is a very common dental issue, even though very few people are keen to know more about it.

What Is Periodontal Disease?

It is a term used to refer to the infection of the periodontium, which largely covers the gum tissue of the oral cavity. This disease starts by attacking the gum tissue. Eventually, the disease attacks different parts of your oral cavity, including the bone tissue thereof. This is the reason why there are two types of periodontal disease.

The first type is called gingivitis, which is the initial stage of gum disease. It affects the gums only and has mild to moderate symptoms. Periodontitis is the other type of gum disease, which is more advanced and severe. It attacks both the gums and the jawbone, even compromising the stability of teeth. While many cases of gum disease resolve on their own, you need to seek treatment near you to ensure the infection does not spread or progress. Besides, how quickly the issue resolves itself depends on the kinds of symptoms you experience.

Common Gum Disease Symptoms

The symptoms you experience largely depend on how severe your infection is. Some patients have it worse than others. Some of the symptoms that indicate an infection in your periodontium include the following:

• Bleeding gums – it is the most common symptom identifiable in periodontics near you. You will notice the bleeding when brushing your teeth or biting hard foods like apples and carrots.
• Reddened and swollen gums, usually along the gum line – some patients do not bleed but instead have swollen and reddened gums.
• Pain in your gums – often when you chew food. It can easily be mistaken for a temporomandibular joint disorder, especially when you begin to feel the pain in your jawbone as the infection progresses.
• Bad breath – although a lot can be attributed to bad breath, when it comes to gum disease, you may have a bad odor that does not go away even after cleaning your mouth.
• Receding gums – if you notice that your gums are getting smaller by the day, you may have gum disease. As the infection damages the gum tissue, the gums tend to pull away from your teeth.
• Shaky teeth – your teeth will begin to loosen, and in some cases, may even fall off. If not, you may notice that your teeth are shifting, even though you do not have any missing teeth.

Facts You Must Know About Periodontal Treatment

• The disease advances with time – the longer you leave the infection in your gums untreated, the more it advances and progresses. Worse, the infection will spread to the healthy parts of your gums, causing damage to your entire oral cavity.
• The infection may have permanent consequences – if you leave your infection untreated for long, you may experience permanent symptoms. This happens when the infection severely damages your gums as well as the bone tissue underneath. Some of the permanent gum disease symptoms include bone degeneration and tooth loss.
• Treatment may involve surgery – again, it depends on how severely impacted your oral cavity is because of the infection. For patients with critical symptoms, surgery may be the only alternative to treat their infection and restore their smiles. The surgeries commonly entailed in periodontal treatment are gum grafting surgeries and bone grafting surgeries. Both these surgeries are important to restore the health of your gums and jawbone after the infection.
• Treatment may be costly – the general periodontitis treatment cost depends on the severity of your infection. For very severe cases, the treatment will involve different approaches, which is why the costs will be higher than usual. For example, if you need surgery for your gums and jawbone, tooth extraction, and tooth replacement procedure, your treatment will cost a lot more than that of a patient who needs oral antibiotics. This is why you have to seek treatment early on in the infection stage.