Periodontal Maintenance: A Path Back from Severe Gum Disease

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Shame over the state of a person’s oral health can make it much harder for that person to get the dental care that they need. And when that shame devolves into a loss of hope, dental care may not even feel like a viable solution. However, with procedures such as periodontal maintenance, can help even seemingly hopeless bring cases of tooth decay and gum disease back under control and bring stability to your oral health. Find out what periodontal maintenance is and learn how this gum disease treatment plan offers a path back from severe gum disease and tooth decay.

What Does Periodontal Maintenance Entail?

It’d be ideal if every dental problem could be corrected in a single visit, but unfortunately, that just isn’t the case. So, for people with severe gum disease, “advanced periodontitis,” typically one appointment isn’t enough to restore their oral health. For patients using periodontal maintenance as a path back to manageable oral health, they’ll need to visit the dentist every three to four months for deep cleaning procedures and exams.

So What Does a Deep Cleaning Entail?

A deep cleaning is actually a pair of procedures: scaling and root planing. During the first stage of the deep cleaning, scaling, your dentist or hygienist will use a dental scaler to carefully and methodically remove dental tartar from the surfaces of teeth. For a deep cleaning, scaling also entails removing tartar from the roots of teeth below the gum line.

After the tartar has been removed, the clinician will smooth the roots of the teeth and recounter the gums so that the gums adhere uniformly to each tooth. This will help eliminate or reduce pockets of space between the tooth roots and gums. These pockets are ideal incubators for bacteria, so reducing these bacterial pockets will make it much easier to care for your mouth.

More on Periodontal Maintenance in Van Nuys, CA

Take a minute to reserve an appointment with a local dentist to learn more about what you can expect from periodontal maintenance in Van Nuys, CA. 

Treating a Gummy Smile with Laser Soft Tissue Treatment

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The overgrowth of gum tissue can cover up teeth and, for the shy, it can make them want to cover up their smile. A “gummy smile” can make teeth look stubby and the smile look asymmetrical. Not only can gum overgrowth hurt the aesthetics of your smile, it could also pose a risk to the health of your teeth and gums. However, there’s a lot an experienced dentist can do to treat your gummy smile. Find out how a dentist can enhance your smile with laser soft tissue treatment.

The Benefits of Laser Soft Tissue Treatment

To remove gum overgrowth, there’s the conventional route that entails using a scalpel and then there’s the alternative – which leverages dental lasers. While conventional soft tissue treatment with a scalpel may be needed for the most severe of cases, there are a number of benefits of opting to have the procedure done with a laser.

Here’s an overview of the benefits of using dental lasers to treat gum overgrowth:

·         Less bleeding occurs

·         Shorter healing period

·         No need for sutures

·         No need for an appointment to remove sutures

·         Efficient and accurate

Gingivectomy (Functional)

Gum disease can make gum overgrowth worse, causing pain, bleeding, inflammation and several other problems. As gum disease advances, it creates pockets of bacteria between the teeth and the gums. For these cases, a dentist is likely to recommend a gingivectomy. In cases such as these, there are two goals: remove the overgrowth and reduce the depth of the bacterial pockets.

Gingivoplasty (Cosmetic)

If you’ve kept gum disease at bay, and haven’t formed pockets of space between your teeth and gums, your dentist may recommend a cosmetic gingivoplasty. While a gingivectomy focuses on removing decaying gum tissue, a gingivoplasty focuses only on removing excessive gum tissue and recontouring it. The latter may be done after the former, if cosmetic enhancements are needed after a gingivectomy.

Talk with a Dentist in Van Nuys, CA

Reserve an appointment with a dentist in Van Nuys, CA to learn more about your options for soft tissue treatment and other dental procedures.

How Dentists Use Lasers to Enhance Smiles

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Once the stuff of science fiction and now a mainstay in modern medicine, laser light has been proven to be a minimally invasive option to various dental procedures. Laser therapy can deliver results just as good as conventional means, yet allow for faster healing times and much less discomfort. Take a look at some of the many ways dental lasers can be used to enhance your smile.

Removing Decaying Gum Tissue

The conventional means for removing diseased gum tissue entails using a scalpel and other metal tools to carefully trim away infected areas of the gums. The mouth is numbed with local anesthesia before the procedures and the gums are stitched up afterward.

A dental laser can perform the same task without the need to make cuts with a scalpel. The highly focused laser light is more accurate and precise than conventional means, helping your dentist minimize the amount of healthy tissue removed along with the bad.

With laser dentistry, this procedure will entail less bleeding and you’ll likely not need a local anesthetic. On top of that, you won’t need stitches.

Removing Overgrown Gum Tissue

Overgrown gum tissue can make the teeth look shorter and can make for what’s sometimes referred to as “a gummy smile.” Using dental lasers, this overgrown gum tissue can be trimmed and shaped to look more natural and more aesthetically pleasing.

Freeing the Lips or the Tongue

The frenulum, the tissue that attaches the tongue and upper lip to the gums, can restrict the movement of the upper lip or tongue. This can restrict speak and impact the smile. Dental lasers can trim back the frenulum to free up the lip and tongue to move around more naturally, helping the patient speak more clears and smile more confidently.

Talk with a Dentist in Van Nuys, CA

Take a moment to schedule a consultation with a local dentist in Van Nuys, CA to learn more about laser dentistry and how this sector of dentistry can elevate your smile.

Gum Disease Treatment: How a Dentist Treats Sore, Swollen Gums

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It might not have been too difficult to ignore, until it was. The early signs of gum disease can be disturbing, but much easier for some people to brush out than the advanced stages of gum disease. When the soreness of the gums won’t go away, the bleeding while brushing is routine, and the gums appear to be receding, it’s past time to call in the heavies. There’s a lot a dentist can do to get your gum disease under control and your oral health back on track – all you have to do is ask. Take a look at some of the many things your dentist can do to treat your gum disease.

Deep Cleaning – Scaling and Root Planing

Often called a “deep cleaning” outside dentist’s office and “scaling and root planing” within, this pair of related procedures can be a powerful combination in helping get gum disease under control.

When tartar, hardened plaque, dips below the gum line, it takes a little more than a standard teeth cleaning procedure. Take a look at the main elements of a deep cleaning:

Scaling – after anesthesia is administered to mute any discomfort, the gums are pulled back. From there, your dentist will carefully remove any tartar from the roots of your teeth.

Root planing – with the tartar removed, your dentist will smooth over the roots of your teeth so that the gums re-adhere to them uniformly. This procedure helps reduce or eliminate the bacterial pockets tartar creates between the teeth and gums.

Osseous Surgery

Taking scaling and root planing even further, this procedure seeks to removed tartar from the roots of teeth as well as diseased tissue. Removing disease hard and soft tissue beneath the gums and around the teeth will limit the spread of gum disease.

Periodontal Maintenance

In some cases, one appointment for scaling and root planing isn’t enough to get a case of gum disease back under control. If your dentist recommends periodontal maintenance, you may need a deep cleaning every few months until your gum disease can be managed without it.

Talk to a Dentist in Van Nuys, CA

Take a moment to schedule a consultation with a dentist in Van Nuys, CA to learn more about your options for gum disease treatment.

Knowing When It Time to Seek Gum Disease Treatment

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For some people, a bit of blood in the spittle while brushing is more than enough to prompt them to seek dental care. For others, it takes a bit more: regularly tender gums, swollen gums, toothaches and more. Knowing when it’s time to step up your dental care can help prevent gum disease from festering and advancing to periodontitis, the advanced stage of gum disease that does irreversible damage to teeth and gums.

Signs of Gum Disease

Knowing what to look for will help you better recognize when brushing and flossing at home are no longer enough to keep gum disease from overrunning your mouth.

Take a look at these common signs of gingivitis, gum disease in its early stages:

·         Tender, swollen gums

·         Discoloration of the gums

·         A small amount of blood in the spittle when brushing or flossing

·         Chronically bad breath

These are some of the common signs of periodontitis, severe gum disease that does permanent damage:

Moderate to severe swelling and tenderness of the gums

·         Loose teeth

·         Shifting teeth that no longer fit with opposing teeth

·         Shifting teeth that shift away from neighboring teeth

·         Gum recession, which makes the teeth look as if they’re getting longer

Options for Gum Disease Treatment

Knowing what to look for can help you recognize when it’s time to get professional help to rein in your gum disease. The sooner you get treatment for your gum disease, the more options you’ll have available to you.

These are some of the most effective solutions for treating gum disease:

·         Deep cleaning – tartar is removed from the roots of teeth.

·         Osseous surgery – more involved than a deep cleaning, tartar is removed from the roots and bone is reshaped to ensure the gums adhere to the teeth uniformly.

·         Periodontal maintenance – regularly scheduled deep cleanings every few months

More on Gum Disease Treatment in Van Nuys, CA

Take a moment to reserve an appointment with a local dentist to learn more about your options for gum disease treatment in Van Nuys, CA. 

What’s a Deep Cleaning?

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A teeth cleaning procedure is one of the simplest, most affordable and most effective services you’ll find at a dentist’s office. As great as this procedure is at removing tartar buildup from teeth and preserving the gums, sometimes it’s necessary to go deeper. If you haven’t been to the dentist’s office in a while and have been neglecting your oral health at home, your dentist may recommend you undergo a deep cleaning. Take a look at what a deep cleaning is and find out how it can stabilize the health of your mouth.

Scaling and Root Planing

Used similarly in a standard teeth cleaning procedure, a dental scaler is used to carefully scrape away tartar that has hardened onto the surfaces of the teeth. With a deep cleaning, your dentist or hygienist will remove tartar that has accumulated above and below the gum line.

With the tartar removed from each tooth, including each tooth’s roots, the next phase in the process is smoothing over the tooth roots so that the gums adhere to them uniformly. As gum disease advances, it begins to create bacterial pockets between the teeth and teeth roots. With the tarter removed and the teeth roots smoothed over, the gums typically tightened up around the teeth to provide maximum support.

Taking it Further

A scaling and root planing procedure is often highly effective at stopping gum disease in its tracks and saving mouths from the devastating, irreversible damage caused by advanced gum disease.

If scaling and root planing aren’t enough to stop the steady, destructive march of gum disease, an experienced periodontist may offer the following procedures:

Periodontal maintenance – when a one-off deep cleaning isn’t enough, your periodontist may recommend that you have the procedure done again every three to four months.

Osseous surgery – taking the deep cleaning process a step further, osseous surgery also entails removed bits of diseased gum tissues and decayed bone to stop the spread of the infection and to preserve the healthy area.

Your periodontist will reshape the damaged area of the bone and then attach the gums back to the jawbone and teeth.

Dentist in Van Nuys, CA

Schedule a consultation with a local dentist in Van Nuys, CA to learn more about just how affordable it is to keep your teeth and gums in good health. 

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