Gum disease or periodontal disease begins when the mouth contains bacteria. The bacteria along with mucus and other particles will constantly form a sticky and colorless plaque on teeth. If the plaque is not cleaned it becomes hard and forms tartar which cannot be removed by brushing and can be removed by a dentist through professional cleaning. A healthy gum must be in pink and firm to keep your teeth securely placed. The gums should not bleed when touched or during brushing. The infected gums are silent and you may not feel pain. The symptoms will not appear till the advanced stage of the disease.
The symptoms include the following:
Bad breath, bleeding gums while eating hard food and brushing, swelling and redness in gums, loose or separating teeth, pus between gums and teeth, receding gums.
Digital X-rays or radio graphs show tartar on teeth, bone loss and depth of your roots.
Treatment for gum diseases are:
Flap surgery
During this procedure first anesthesia is applied in the gum so that it can be lifted back to expose the tooth and bone and dentists remove tartar. This method reduces the space size between the gum and the tooth and decreases the area where the bacteria can grow.
Root Planing:
The goal of this procedure is a deep cleaning is done by giving local anesthesia to remove plaque and tartar from gums thereby removing infection. Smoothing the rough spots of gums removes bacteria and provides a clean surface for attaching the teeth.
Professional Teeth Cleaning:
This procedure is used for the removal of tartar where it has occurred in the areas that are difficult to reach in normal brushing. This procedure includes tooth scaling and tooth polishing if too much tartar is accumulated. Various instrument and devices are used by dentists to remove the deposits from teeth.
Bone grafts:
This method is used to replace the lost bone using fragments of bone, synthetic bone that is destroyed due to gum disease. The replacement of bone will provide stability to teeth.
Healthy guns ensure healthy teeth, hence it should be taken care that, the hygiene and health of the gums are maintained.
