What Are Gum Disease Treatments?

Apart from regular cleanings, dentists provide many different services. The most common one for kids and teens to learn about are cavity fillings. At a young age tooth decay is one of the most common problems. However, aside from our teeth, our gums are also at risk of damage. Whereas fillings, sealants, crowns, and bridges can help protect our teeth and our smiles, gum disease treatments can handle issues caused by gum tissue damage.

What Is Gum Disease?

Gum disease refers to a variety of issues where the tissue around our gums becomes inflamed, infected, and eventually begins to deteriorate. Like our teeth, our gums are at constant risk of damage due to plaque and bacteria. When sugars from food mix with natural bacteria in our mouth it can create a plaque that sticks to our teeth and causes decay. On the teeth, this can cause erosion of enamel and eventually cavities and decay all the way down to the root. At the gum line, this can cause inflammation, receding, and eventually gum disease.

How To Prevent Gum Disease

The best way to prevent gum disease from becoming severe is to brush and floss daily. Additionally, regular dental cleanings can go a long way in preventing gum disease as well as a whole host of other dental problems. During a routine cleaning, your dentist will provide many important services that can protect your teeth and gums. Specifically, they will remove hardened tartar or plaque that you cannot remove using a toothbrush. By using dental scrapers they can remove any built-up plaque.

Non-Surgical Gum Disease Treatments

Scaling and root planing is a form of deep-cleaning that is done under local anesthetic. Plaque and tartar that have built up above and below the gum line are removed through a process called scaling. Scaling is the process of scraping away plague both above and under the gums. Planing is the process of smoothing out rough spots on the tooth that make it easy for bacteria to gather and form plaque, tartar, or calculus. This procedure is usually done if your dentist determines that there is plaque under your gums that need to be removed.

Surgical Gum Disease Treatments

In some cases, if gum disease is more severe and left untreated, surgical treatments may become necessary. Here are a few of the surgical procedures that exist for gum disease treatments.

• Bone Grafts: Bone grafting involves using fragments of a patient’s bone, donated bone, or synthetic bone to replace the sections of bone that are destroyed by gum disease. Grafts can help bone regrow and give stability to teeth.
• Soft Tissues Grafts: Grafted tissue can be used to fill in places where gums have receded due to damage. Grafted skin can be taken from the roof of the mouth and stitched into the affected area.
• Flap Surgery: Flap surgery is the process of opening the gums to remove tartar that is under them. This process decreases the areas where harmful bacteria can grow by reducing the size and space between gum and tooth.

Contact All Star Dental

For more information on gum disease treatments and prevention, please contact All Star Dental in Chicago. We would be happy to discuss setting up an appointment with you or a family member.