About four out of every five adults in the United States will deal with gum disease at some point in their lives. Gum disease is what we consider to be an epidemic! It is especially concerning because it is practically symptom-free in the early stages — meaning that most patients don’t know they have an infection until our Peabody, MA dental team catches it during a routine exam, or until it is advanced enough to cause major periodontal issues.
Gum disease is the number one cause for lost adult teeth. We see patients all the time who have lost their teeth due to a gum disease infection, and we want to make sure you are never in that same predicament! By learning to identify gum disease and knowing your …show more content…
We can take a quick look and know exactly what we are dealing with so that you can get the care you need right away!
Treating Gum Disease
The progression of your infection will determine how we treat your gum disease. If your infection is just beginning, a standard dental cleaning is usually all it takes to remove the harmful bacteria from your gums. However, as the infection grows, we need to be more aggressive.
When a gum disease infection progresses deep into your gums, we turn to a process called scaling and root planing (SRP). During an SRP procedure, we will use special instruments to clean deep below the gumline to remove bacteria and plaque buildup. We will also smooth the surfaces of your tooth roots so that bacteria is less able to cling to them.
Once the cleaning is complete, we will turn to Arestin — an antibiotic gel that we can place directly on your gums. We can also use a dental laser to thoroughly sterilize the pockets of your gums to ensure that the infection is completely gone!
In cases of extreme gum disease infection, we might need to rely on things like tissue grafting, gingivectomies, and bone grafts to restore your smile’s health and