Taking care of your gum health is a vital part of maintaining a strong smile! This connective tissue provides a seal against oral bacteria while securing your teeth to your jawbone. When gums become damaged from disease and infection, you can experience painful symptoms that eventually lead to losing teeth. But by brushing and flossing every day, you remove the bacterial deposits that contribute to gum inflammation. This is the same material that causes tooth decay, so by cleaning your smile each day, you protect against multiple oral threats! If you have chronic bad breath, problems with bleeding, or otherwise sore and inflamed tissue, do not ignore these symptoms. Fortunately, gum disease is potentially reversible when caught in its first stage. However, once the infection reaches your jawbone, it becomes permanent and must be treated for life. When this happens, we can place you on periodontal maintenance to preserve your healthy tissues for years to come.
At your Ankeny, IA dental office, we enjoy helping our patients practice a preventive attitude toward all aspects of their oral care, including their gum health. When you attend cleanings on a routine basis, we provide professional assistance in removing the bacterial threats that can inflame your gums. These biannual examinations allow us to create a dental record that can quickly identify when your gum tissues become less than healthy. If we notice a part of your smile that requires additional support, we will let you know and explore additional services to bring it back to health.
Attending Routine Cleanings And Checkups
By scheduling appointments to clean your teeth and gums every six months, you obtain the standard of care necessary to prevent plaque from severely damaging your smile. This combination of bacteria and food debris not only threatens your enamel but can irritate your gingival tissues as well. When this happens, your body’s inflammatory process causes the gums to recede, revealing pockets between your teeth where plaque can burrow further, accelerating damage to the tissue. If you notice signs of an infection such as sore gums or consistent bleeding, schedule an appointment as soon as possible. When caught on time, we hope to reverse your gum disease and restore your healthy mouth.
Periodontal Therapy Restores Your Healthy Gums
When you have an active gum infection, we can perform a periodontal maintenance therapy to clean bacterial deposits both above and below your gumline. Known as scaling and root planing, this procedure polishes the tooth’s roots so that your gum tissues may reattach. As you heal from this treatment, your symptoms subside and the disease goes into remission. With regular checkups, we hope to maintain your healthy smile free from active disease.
Speak With Your Ankeny, IA, Dental Team About Treatment For Gum Disease
If you want to learn more about the periodontal maintenance services we offer, please call your Ankeny, IA, dentist’s office at 515-207-6182 to schedule a visit today.
