How to Prevent Gum Infection from Deteriorating?
Gum disease, also called periodontitis, is a severe infection of the gums with the potential to damage the soft tissue. If left untreated, gum disease destroys the bone supporting your teeth. Periodontitis causes teeth to loosen or fall out.
Although periodontitis is a normal condition among adults, it is largely preventable. Gum disease results from poor dental hygiene. Brushing twice daily, flossing at least once, and getting regular checkups from the dentist near me and significantly improve your chances of successfully treating gum disease besides reducing your chances of developing it. However, if you have allowed the earliest stage of gum disease gingivitis to progress to periodontitis, maintenance of the condition is the best way to prevent it from deteriorating.
What Are the Common Symptoms of Gum Disease?
Healthful gums fit snugly near your teeth and are pale pink. If you have gum disease, the symptoms include swollen and puffy gums, bright red, dusky red, or purplish gums, tender gums to touch, gums bleeding easily, and a pink-tinged toothbrush after brushing.
You may also experience bad breath and spitting out blood when brushing or flossing your teeth. In addition, pus between your teeth and gums, loss of teeth or loose teeth, painful chewing, new spaces developing between your teeth, receding gums making your teeth appear longer, and changes in how your teeth fit together when biting are also symptoms of gum disease.
When to Seek Treatment for Gum Disease?
Following your dentist’s recommendation for regular checkups is the best way to prevent gum disease from developing. However, if you notice the symptoms described, make an appointment with the dentist in Sanger, TX, as soon as possible. The sooner you receive care for the problem, the better your chances are to reverse the damage caused by gum disease.
What Causes Gum Disease?
Plaque is the primary culprit of gum disease. However, several other reasons may cause the disease, which you might not have information about. Below are some common reasons for gum disease with tips on preventing these infections.
Plaque is most often the cause of gum disease. Plaque is a thin film of bacteria forming on the gums and teeth easily removable by brushing and flossing. If you have gum disease and are unaware of it, please do not be ashamed because you have plenty of company. Millions of adults have various stages of gum disease. Fortunately, if detected early, gum disease is reversible by improving your daily care routine and scheduling checkups with dentists every six months.
If you neglect the early symptoms of gum disease, the plaque hardens into tartar below your gum line. Tartar is challenging to remove at home, and it is filled with bacteria. The longer you permit plaque and tartar to stay on your teeth, the more harm you suffer. Tartar removal needs help from a dental professional because brushing and flossing are ineffective for the reduction.
Plaque causes gingivitis, the mildest variant of gum disease. Gingivitis is the inflammation and irritation of the condition around the base of your teeth. Gingivitis is reversible with professional therapy and exceptional home care.
If left untreated, gingivitis eventually progresses to periodontitis, causing pockets to form between your gums and teeth and filling them with plaque, tartar, and bacteria. Over time these pockets become deeper, causing more bacteria to accumulate. If you neglect treatment further, the deep infections cause loss of bone and tissue, and eventually, you may lose one or more teeth. Furthermore, chronic inflammation strains your immune system.
Risk Factors of Gum Disease
Some elements that can increase your risks of periodontitis are gingivitis, poor oral health habits, hormonal changes related to pregnancy and menopause, smoking or chewing tobacco, recreational drug use, obesity, genetics, conditions caused by weakened immunity like HIV/AIDS, cancer treatment and leukemia, et cetera.
Instead of preventing the deterioration of gum disease, the better solution is to prevent the condition from affecting you.
If you are accustomed to maintaining excellent dental hygiene early in life and practice it, you can prevent gum disease and save yourself unnecessary trouble of visiting a specialist seeking periodontal treatment in Sanger, TX. You merely have to brush your teeth twice daily for two minutes each, starting in the morning and closing just before going to bed at night. You must include flossing in your daily routine, realizing it doesn’t matter when you floss so long as you do it diligently.
Scheduling regular dental appointments for checkups and cleanings every six months is helpful. If you have the risk factors increasing your chances of developing periodontitis, you can prevent the condition by getting professional cleanings more often. However, if you have developed periodontitis, you must maintain the infection throughout your life by frequently visiting the periodontal specialist in Sanger for superficial and invasive treatments as required by your specific condition.
Do not wait for gum disease to need expensive treatments. Instead, schedule appointments with the Sanger dentist for six-monthly cleanings and exams that help you to prevent this problem altogether.