Dental Fitness and Gum Disease

What is Dental Fitness?

Have you ever had that dream where all your teeth were falling out? Our dental fitness index will help you know how close that is to reality. Dentistry’s sad story is when patients have had a lifetime of dentistry but don’t enjoy the benefits of good dental health. Through thorough examination and measurement of key indicators, we produce a score that is predictive of your long term health. Then, we’ll coach you to improve your score to the level where nobody is going to lose any sleep over their long term dental health. Give us a call if this makes sense to you.

Gum Disease

The #1 cause of tooth loss in adults,the symptoms include bleeding when brushing or flossing, loose or shifting teeth, bad breath, and changes in your bite. Periodontal disease is an infection in your gums caused by bacterial plaque; it destroys the bone that holds your teeth in. Smoking, diabetes, stress, and a bad bite can speed up bone loss too.

Preventive Therapy

The first step is diagnosis, and gum disease can be detected very early in its progression. Then, specific treatments and hygiene recommendations will help you return to health. Know too, that a healthy environment produces health in the body — periodontal disease can worsen systemic issues like cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes.

We tend to start working on the simple simple therapies that can make a drastic difference in the health of your mouth establishing a healthy environment from the start. You can start healing yourself by thoroughly removing bacterial plaque along the gum line a couple times per day, and never, we mean NEVER, allow food debris to sit on your teeth. If you wait until gum disease hurts, it will be too late.

Scaling and Root Planing

Have you been told that you need scaling and root planing, or a “deep cleaning”? When the gum pockets around the tooth get deeper than normal as a result of gum disease, the toothbrush and floss can’t reach anymore to clean the bacteria and debris away often worsening the infection. To help the body heal, the hygienist will utilize specialized instruments and medicaments to help heal the area; clean the roots and teeth below the gum line; as well as remove bacteria, toxins and diseased tissue.

Surgical Therapy

A surgical approach is also an effective method to help restore health to areas greatly compromised by gum disease. Gum surgery can be used to allow access to clean root surfaces that otherwise couldn’t be reached; remove infected or diseased tissues; reposition tissues to improve the health and cleansability of an area.

If you’re concerned about the health of your mouth and gums, make an appointment to get healthy today!