Much of your hygiene and preventive dental efforts focus on preventing issues that could endanger your smile. Gum disease is one of the most significant of those dangers, affecting more than 80% of adults to various degrees. In its severe form, it can become your biggest risk of tooth loss. At our Newhall, CA, dental office, we not only provide personalized preventive treatment, but also highly customized periodontal care to help you successfully manage gum disease in case it develops. With the right periodontal maintenance plan, you can avoid some of the more severe consequences of gum disease, including tooth loss.
What gum disease means
As the name suggests, gum disease develops in the soft periodontal tissues (or gums) that surround and protect your teeth roots. It develops when oral bacteria overwhelm your gums and work their way underneath them, forming plaque and tartar on the roots of your teeth. If you successfully prevent bacteria from getting that far, then you can prevent gum disease from forming. However, once it does develop, the infection it causes will lead to increasingly worse inflammation and damage to your underlying gum tissues. The longer it’s left untreated, the more damage gum disease will cause, and eventually, it can lead to tooth loss and more.
The dangers of ignoring it
The damage to your gums and jawbone that gum disease leads to is the underlying reason why it’s the biggest cause of adult tooth loss. Besides this damage, though, the unchecked inflammation in your periodontal and oral tissues can also become a health risk for other chronic inflammatory diseases. For example, patients with severe gum disease have been shown to have increased risks of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, and more as they grow older. The more severe your gum disease becomes, the higher the risks can be to your systemic health.
Prevention and management
Because harmful oral bacteria are the main causes of gum disease development, controlling their accumulation is key to preventing gum disease. By brushing and flossing your teeth at least twice a day, especially along your gum line, you can largely stop bacteria from remaining long enough to cause problems. Attending a regular checkup and cleaning will allow us to remove calcified plaque, or tartar, that you can’t remove with your toothpaste and water. If gingivitis (early gum disease) develops, then we can custom-design a periodontal treatment plan, including scaling and root planing, to remove the bacteria and allow your gums to heal.
Get a grip on gum disease
Preventing gum disease is the best way to protect your smile from it, but if it develops, you still have several options for controlling and managing it. For more information, schedule a consultation by calling Newhall Dental Arts in Newhall, CA, today at (661) 259-7760.