Gum disease is prevalent, with 30-50% of the population suffering from it at some point in their lives.
We all know healthy teeth and gums are important. But why? Well amongst many reasons, one stand out factor is that if gum disease is left untreated, it can impact your general health and well-being. The first stage of unhealthy gums is gingivitis. Gingivitis is a condition where plaque forms on your teeth and around the gum line. As a result your gums become inflamed. This condition is reversible but can also lead to more serious irreversible gum disease condition called periodontitis, if not treated.
Gum disease can result in loss of teeth and tooth supporting bone.
It’s diagnosed by examining your gums, as well as xrays which can show bone loss caused due to gum disease. Once gum disease develops, it never disappears but becomes a latent condition that will need continual monitoring throughout your life. Good oral hygiene is absolutely essential once diagnosed, to avoid the early loss of teeth and systemic complications. Gum disease has been linked with coronary heart disease. Diabetics very commonly also suffer from gum disease and people who grind their teeth are at a higher risk of developing it. If we determine that your gums have either reversible gingivitis or non reversible periodontitis , we will:
- Organise the cleaning of your teeth together with
- Oral hygiene instructions to provide you with a personalised cleaning plan (we will find the right cleaning tools for your mouth) and
- Revaluate your gums in the near future to confirm the improvement of its health.
If non reversible gum disease has been diagnosed, then we may need to book you several appointments in which we assess and clean your gums and provide you with your personalised cleaning plan. More often than not these appointments are completed without local anaesthesia, however we do strongly recommend the use of Happy Gas to sedate you throughout these appointment(s). Revaluation happens at a 6 week interval after your cleaning appointment, to determine your regular maintenance schedule. The Dental on Park team can help you treat both gingivitis and its more serious progressed irreversible form, periodontitis.