What is Periodontal Disease?
Periodontal disease, or periodontitis, is a gum infection that damages the gums and can destroy the jawbone. It can be accompanied by bad breath, toothaches, bright red gums, loose teeth, receding gums, tender gums, or tooth loss.
How is Periodontal Disease treated?
The first step is to have a dental cleaning above your gum line.
The next step is to bring you back for a “deep” cleaning, called scaling and root planing. A local anesthetic will be given to reduce any discomfort. Using an instrument called an ultrasonic scaler, plaque and tarter will be carefully removed down to the bottom of each pocket. This procedure helps gum tissue to heal and pockets to shrink.
Once the scaling and root planing treatment is complete, it is recommended that you have periodontal maintenance cleanings every 3 months for one year. After one year, a re-evaluation of pocket depths will be conducted to determine if pockets have healed (less than 4mm probing depths).
We also recommend an oral antibiotic rinse (0.12% Chlorhexidine) to help reduce the overall number of bacteria in your mouth and soothe the inflamed gum tissues.
Home Care is Critical!!! We recommend maintaining good oral hygiene at home by brushing twice for at least 2 minutes twice a day and flossing between teeth at least one time everyday. Regular follow-up appointments to your dentist are essential to help prevent periodontal disease from becoming more serious or from recurring.