Gum disease is one of the common oral health afflictions that people suffer from. Because gum disease progresses gradually and often without any painful symptoms, you may not realize you have it. Early signs of gum disease include sensitive and inflamed gums and bad breath. As it becomes more serious, it can cause bigger problems, such as excessive gum recession, loose teeth, and tooth loss.

For these reasons, it’s important to visit your dentist for checkups. Using the latest tools and methods, such as digital X-rays, your dentist can check the state of your gums to see if gum disease is present. If gum disease is present, your dentist will devise a suitable treatment plan for you. For early signs of gum disease, such as during the gingivitis stage, proper consistent flossing is enough to stop or even reverse it. However, if the gum disease has progressed to the periodontal disease, more aggressive treatments may be needed to eliminate the excessive amounts of plaque and infection below the gumline.

To eliminate the chronic infection, we may recommend a number of techniques such as local medication, curettage, and root-planing.

  • Specific medication may be injected into the infected site to contain the infection and prevent it from spreading to other areas.
  • Curettage is the process of removing the surrounding soft tissues around a tooth. By eliminating the source of infection, we are allowing your gum tissues to regrow and heal.
  • Root-planing is a technique that gets rid of and smooths the tooth’s root surface. This gives you a smooth and clean surface to allow the soft tissues to heal.

These techniques are often performed simultaneously by our hygienist. To ensure your comfort, local anesthesia is given as well. Because gum disease takes time to properly treat, your sessions will be spread out over several sessions to allow us to continue to check your condition. Depending on how your tissues heal and the state of the infection, we may recommend a periodontist should a surgery be required. Our skilled dental team will create a treatment plan to effectively treat your gum disease and restore your mouth to complete health.

Contact Trenton Dentistr, family dentist, to schedule an appointment.

+1 (613) 394 3883

Book an Appointment