Periodontal Maintenance Basalt CO
Periodontal Maintenance provided by Dr. Marcus Blue
in Basalt, CO at Blue Periodontics
Periodontal maintenance is important because it helps keep your teeth and gums as healthy as possible. At Blue Periodontics we believe in the importance of periodontal maintenance and offer it to our patients with gum disease.
Do You Need Periodontal Maintenance?
Periodontal is the term for illness and treatment of your gums. You may have heard of the terms "periodontist" or "periodontal disease," both of which involve your gums. Although you have heard the term "periodontal," you may have never needed treatment for gum disease - until now.
Periodontal (gum) disease has three stages. In the early stage, you have a mild form of periodontal disease. Your gums bleed while flossing or brushing your teeth. Your gum tissue may look swollen and darker or redder than usual. When our periodontist can catch gum disease in the early stage, he can cure it through regular cleanings and proper daily care.
However, if you do not go to our periodontist regularly, you may not realize you have gum disease until the disease is already in the moderate or severe stages. When periodontal disease reaches the later stages, it is called periodontitis. You may notice that your teeth may look longer or that your gums seem to be receding from your teeth. Spaces will develop between your teeth and your gums. These spaces, which are sometimes called pockets, can fill with bacteria and make your gum disease worse.
Left untreated, periodontal disease can be very serious. Eventually, your periodontal disease will progress to the severe stages, which means your gum tissue will disappear. You may begin to lose teeth. Bacteria from your gum disease can cause inflammatory responses and infections in other areas of your body as well. That is why it is so important to get treatment for your periodontal disease.
What Is Periodontal Maintenance?
Over the previous 30 or 40 years, dentists and periodontists have perfected the techniques of periodontal maintenance. Not everyone needs periodontal maintenance. However, if our periodontist notices some deterioration of bone tissue around your teeth, deep dental pockets between your teeth and your gums, or exposed roots, you need periodontal maintenance. Periodontal maintenance is designed to keep your gum tissue as healthy as possible.
Periodontal cleaning is more frequent than traditional dental cleanings. Most people have their regular dental checkups every six months, where their teeth and gums are cleaned and checked. The American Dental Association found that when patients with gum disease undergo periodontal maintenance every three months, their gum disease does not progress. However, periodontal cleanings are a bit different if patients do not receive treatment regularly. In fact, even if adults with periodontal disease get treatment every six months, they can rapidly lose gum tissue.
Periodontal maintenance takes place in stages. First, the dental team will discuss your medical and dental history with you to ensure no major changes have taken place. Our periodontist needs to know about your medical history because changes in medication can affect your dental health. Second, you may get your X-rays updated if you have not had any recently because your X-rays can track your bone deterioration if you have any.
After the X-rays, our periodontist will check your mouth for any signs of cancer, especially if you have a family history of oral cancer or if you use tobacco. The soft tissue exam only takes a few minutes. Next, our periodontist will examine your gum tissue for evidence of additional decay or bleeding. If your gum tissue does not bleed when the periodontist is checking it, that is a sign your tissue is healthy. However, if your gum tissue bleeds while the periodontist is checking it, that is a sign you have a more serious infection that needs additional treatment.
Once our periodontist examines your gum tissue, the next step is to get your teeth and gums as clean as possible. The periodontist will begin the scaling procedure. The scaling process involves deep cleaning and the removal of both plaque and tartar, beginning at your gum line and extending all the way under your gums to where they meet your tooth root and jawbone. When you have plaque, you are able to brush it away. Tartar, however, is a hardened material that only a periodontist can remove with dental instruments.
While our periodontist cleans your gums, he will also check the depth of your gum pockets. If you have been coming in for regular periodontal maintenance, hopefully, the depth of your gum pockets will not change. If our periodontist finds pockets of inflammation during the cleaning and exam, he will irrigate those areas with antibiotics to treat the infection.
Once all of your gum tissue has been cleaned, you may need additional treatments if you have exposed tooth roots. Root planing is part of your periodontal procedure that smooths down tooth roots so they reattach to your gum tissue and jawbone.
Should I Consider Periodontal Maintenance?
If you have never had periodontal maintenance, and our periodontist has told you that you have gum disease, it is time to consider periodontal maintenance procedures. If you have regular periodontal maintenance, you will be able to keep your gum disease in remission. You will also have better overall health if your gum tissue is healthier. Best of all, you will be able to keep your teeth as healthy as possible and not lose them due to gum disease.
If you have chronic diseases, it is even more important that you undergo periodontal maintenance. For example, people with diabetes have far more trouble regulating their illness if they are also suffering from gum disease because of the inflammation. If you have heart disease, your untreated gum disease could make your heart issues worse as well.
Are you still thinking about periodontal maintenance? We can help. Why not give Blue Periodontics a call today at so that we can schedule a consultation with our periodontist? That way, you can begin your journey toward healthier gums and better overall health. |