Causes of Gum Disease
Mesa, AZ
Gum Disease Treatment provided by Dr. Kindt
in Mesa, AZ at Timothy H. Kindt, DDS
 Gum disease is more common in adults than either the cold or the flu. In fact, gum disease is more common than heart disease. By the time an adult reaches retirement age, they have a 70 to 75 percent chance of having gum disease, which makes it by far the most common noninfectious disease. If you think you need more information about periodontal disease (another name for gum disease), here is some information from Timothy H. Kindt, DDS about gum health, the causes of gum disease, and oral hygiene.
What Is Gum Disease?
While a lot of dental terms are difficult to explain, periodontal disease is exactly what it sounds like: A disease of your gum tissue. Gum disease can be both a chronic illness and an acute illness. If you treat gum disease at its early stage, you can cure it. However, if you do not catch gum disease early, it can be treated but not cured.
What Causes Gum Disease?
The root cause of gum disease is bacteria. You have bacteria in your mouth all of the time, both beneficial bacteria and harmful bacteria. The beneficial bacteria help your body break down nutritionally complicated food into easy-to-digest particles that travel down your throat and into your stomach. In fact, beneficial bacteria are the reason you can digest carbohydrates, dairy, and protein.
Several types of harmful bacteria can live in your mouth. Some are attracted to the enamel on your teeth and cause tooth decay. Other bacteria are attracted to your gum tissue and can cause gum disease.
All gum disease begins as plaque, which is a film over your teeth and gums. The plaque is a mixture of bacteria, acids from the bacteria, food particles, and saliva. Dental plaque is sticky, so you need to brush it away each day. If you miss an area or you miss cleaning your teeth and gums for a while, the sticky plaque turns into tartar, which hardens your teeth and gums, especially at the gumline. All of that tartar and plaque can lead to gum inflammation and irritation.
The Stages of Gum Disease
Gum disease gradually worsens over time. The first stage of gum disease, which dentists call gingivitis, is fairly easy to spot. You have probably heard the term in television commercials. If you think you may have gingivitis, take a look at your gums. You may notice your gum tissue looks red or discolored. Your gum tissue may also look swollen or puffy, and the tissue may bleed when you brush or floss your teeth at the gumline. While gingivitis is concerning, it is also easily treated and cured with better brushing and flossing habits. If you are not sure if you have gingivitis, be sure to ask our dentist.
The second and third stages of gum disease are both called periodontitis. Both stages can be treated but not cured, which means they are now chronic conditions. Periodontitis is an active gum infection, and the infection can spread to other teeth, gum tissue, and even your jawbone. It can cause abscesses, which is a serious infection. Gum disease can also cause inflammation and infection in other areas of your body, which means treatment for gum disease is essential.
Should I Take Gum Disease Seriously?
One of the biggest reasons you need to take gum disease seriously is the enormous amount of damage gum disease can cause in your mouth. If you have periodontitis, it means your gum tissue has begun to separate or move away from your teeth. Gum recession makes your teeth look longer and larger. When your gums recede, your teeth are gradually losing their scaffold and support structure, which means they will become loose and fall out. To sum it up, there are plenty of reasons, both for your overall health and your dental health, that you should look into periodontal treatment for your gum tissue.
What Does Periodontal Treatment Look Like?
People with gum disease can benefit enormously from periodontal treatment. The main periodontal treatment for your gum disease is scaling and root planing or periodontal deep cleaning.
First, our dentist or dental hygienist will take a look at the overall condition of your teeth and gums. Then, they will get to work on getting all of the plaque and tartar removed from your gumline and gum tissue. There are special tools that dental professionals use to remove all of the tartar from your gums. Once the gum tissue around the gumline is clean, our dentist will focus on cleaning tartar off the gum tissue below your gumline.
It may be difficult to understand how a dentist can clean below your gumline. If you have stage two or three of gum disease, and your gums are separating from your gumline and teeth, you have developed spaces or pockets between your teeth and gums. All of these below the gumline pockets need to be cleaned out in order to get rid of as much bacteria and infection as possible. Cleaning below the gumline accomplishes that goal.
In addition to treating your teeth and gums above and below the gum line, our dentist will treat any areas of your gum tissue with antibiotics to get your gums as healthy as possible. Treating the gum tissue with antibiotics also means less pain and discomfort for you as well. Another step in the periodontal treatment process is to try and encourage your tooth roots and gum tissue to reattach to the rest of your gum tissue and jawbone. After all of your tartar has been cleaned off, our dentist will smooth out your tooth roots to help rid them of bacteria and reattach them.
As part of the periodontal treatment, our dentist or hygienist will also clean and smooth your teeth, which will leave them brighter and whiter. Periodontal treatment improves your overall dental health, freshens your breath, and can keep your gum disease under control.
Next Steps in Mesa, AZ
Whether it has been a while since you visited a dentist or you visit our dentist frequently, if you worry that you have gum disease, you need to act. Reach out to Timothy H. Kindt, DDS at (480) 939-5818. We would love to make you an appointment with our dentist to address your concerns about gum disease and suggest a treatment plan.
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