How to treat gum disease

Gum disease is usually a result of build-up plaque on teeth and along the gum line. If not treated on time, gum disease can affect the bone that surrounds and supports your teeth.

What is Gum Disease?

Gum disease consists of two main stages. These are:

• Gingivitis
• Periodontitis.

In its early stage, gum disease is called gingivitis. While mild, it’s still nasty and bloody and can cause serious pain and discomfort along your gum lines.

If you fail to treat gum disease at the gingivitis stage, that’s when it can get serious. The infection can move from the gums to the bones and cause periodontitis, which is an advanced stage of gum disease and you definitely don’t want that.

Can gum disease be treated naturally?

Well, that depends on your current concept of ‘natural’ as it relates to your teeth. If your natural inclination steers you towards a daily regime of sugar-laden drinks and sporadic dental regime, the answer is no.

If, however, you can embrace a daily routine of brushing not just teeth, but gums after every meal, you’ll probably keep gum disease at bay, especially if you add flossing and mouthwash into the mix.

However, if your gums are red or swollen and your breath has taken a nasty turn for the worst, your best bet is a quick trip to the dentist.

It is essential to maintain good gum care. Find out how to prevent bleeding gums in our previous blog post! 

What will your dentist do?

Chances are they’ll start with a thorough, deep clean. This is not like a regular clean and will involve in-depth cleansing both above and below the gum line. They may also do something called scaling to scrape away any tartar from the infected area. Root planning can then be used to smooth out rough patches in your teeth’s roots so infected gums can reattach themselves.

As for medications, there are a variety of antiseptics and antibiotics to help alleviate the problem.

If all that fails, your dentist may resort to gum graft surgery – grafting tissue from another part of your mouth – or flap surgery – lifting the gums to remove deep tartar.

If you’d like to expand your interest in dental into a professional career, our HLT35015 Certificate III in Dental Assisting course would be perfect for you! Alternately, you can check out some of our other Dental courses. Enquire now or call us on 0738669513 to speak to one of our career advisors for more information today.