Combating Advanced Periodontal Disease is a Difficult Task

Periodontitis doesn’t stop at making teeth a little loose or causing a little bit of tenderness in the gums.

Advanced periodontal disease, the most severe form of it, can cause teeth to actually fall out as it wears away the gum tissue that holds teeth in place.

Abscesses can form causing pain, and the bacteria within them can eventually reach the jaw, causing a bone infection.

If periodontal disease gets to this point, seeing a Houston dentist is not just a recommendation, it can be life saving.

What Makes Advanced Periodontal Disease So Much Worse?

When gum disease initially starts out, it may not seem bad at all. Maybe a tiny bit of tenderness, perhaps a little swelling, and maybe some blood around the gums when brushing.

Overall, you may feel great. But beneath the surface of your gums, there is a war about to be waged.

It only takes two to three days for plaque to harden into tartar, and once it does, it acts as a shield for bacteria, protecting them from your efforts to clean and purge it from your mouth.

After that, the bacteria begins weakening the gum tissue. It starts with a little bleeding, some swelling and tenderness.

As it progresses, it may become somewhat painful and the gums may turn a bright red or purple color.

At this point, you will need a deep cleaning and an actual scraping of the teeth to remove the bacteria to get your gums to start healing.

Letting it go even further allows the bacteria to burrow into the gums. The deeper it goes, the harder it becomes to clear out.

Once the bacteria reaches your bones, it can become life threatening. Bone infections are not something to be messed with and you should see a dentist right away if you have periodontal disease.

At the advanced stage, not even antibiotics are enough to stave off the infection. Only surgery and tissue regeneration can be beneficial.

Treating Advanced Periodontal Disease in Houston

More than likely, a dentist will have to perform a surgical procedure to cleanse your gums of the bacteria.

The most common procedure is flap surgery.

For this, several small incisions are made along the gums to be able to peel them up like a flap. Next, a very deep scaling and planing procedure is conducted.

Scaling scrapes the bacteria and infected material away while planing smooths out the rough surfaces of bone and tooth to prevent bacteria from clinging to it.

After the flap surgery is completed, depending on how much damage the bacteria caused, tissue may need to be replenished.

This can be done either using guided tissue regeneration or soft tissue grafts. In the worst scenarios where the bones have become infected, a bone graft may be necessary as well.

Preventing Advanced Periodontal Disease

The best way to stop advanced periodontal disease is to never reach that level.

Proper home dental care will be enough to prevent or even reverse gingivitis, the weakest form of gum disease. A regular visit to the dentist for cleanings and exams will also be beneficial.

If you contract moderate periodontal disease, antibiotics and scaling and root planing will be enough to rid the bacteria from your teeth and gums.

Keep in mind that the longer you wait to treat periodontal disease, the more difficult and uncomfortable it becomes to eradicate.