One of the most crucial aspects of our practice is our focus on preventive dentistry. We instil in our patients the importance of maintaining gum tissue and supportive structures in optimum health. This is to help prevent and treat gingivitis and periodontal disease, Gingivitis is a response by the gum tissue caused by plaque building up around the gum-line surrounding your teeth. If your brushing and flossing technique is not effective, plaque will build-up at the juncture where the teeth emerge from the gums. This will aggravate the gums causing them to become inflamed, red and swollen and you may also notice that they bleed when you brush your teeth. Gingivitis is a reversible condition and effective cleaning will lead to healthy gums in a couple of weeks time. If the plaque has hardened into calculus, this can only be removed professionally using specially developed instruments in a procedure called root planing and scaling.
Periodontal disease is a disease of the gum tissue and underlying bone. Unlike gingivitis, periodontitis is associated with irreversible loss of the underlying bone. Gum pockets usually open up between the tooth and gum and act as reservoirs for bacteria unless treated. The rate of bone loss varies very much from individual to individual.
A large percentage of the population will most likely develop some form of periodontal disease, and some of these people will lose a number of teeth if they do not obtain treatment.
Periodontitis is usually painless, so by the time people become aware they have a problem, teeth have become loose or have drifted out of alignment. Serious damage has already been done but most cases can be treated if they are caught early enough. There have been many recent clinical studies to suggest a distinct correlation between periodontal disease contributing to an increased risk of health conditions including heart disease, cardiovascular disease, an increased risk of stroke and more recently pancreatic cancer.