Periodontal disease?
I am pretty sure I have periodontal disease. I read that dental scaling and root planing can reverse it and help the gums reattach to the teeth. Has anyone had this done? How well did it work and how bad was your teeth and gums before? Did it hurt much?
I don’t think mines real bad right now. My gums have receded alot but my teeth are not loose. I’m currently trying to find a good dentist for my check up. I’m just scared cuz I’ve had a few bad dentists before.
I read last resort is surgery…..don’t wanna go through that.
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The scaling is a very important process in correcting gum problems. You will always have the disease, but you will need to learn how to maintain it. The most important thing to remember is YOU have to be in control of your oral hygiene. You need to understand the proper way to brush and floss. You need to have regular cleanings (3, 4 or 6 month). DO NOT SMOKE! Smoking is a definite indicator for tooth loss related to gum disease. If you have recession, you will not gain gum tissue from the scaling. The scaling removes hard deposits on the roots of the teeth, which allows the gums to reattach, but not grow back up the tooth. If the disease is severe and you have deep pockets, the pockets need to shrink. The shrinking will cause the teeth to appear longer because now more root surface is showing. It may not look as pretty, but if you don’t reduce the pocket depth, the gum can not stay healthy.
Pay attention to diet and brush at least twice a day. Medications sometimes have and effect on gums and teeth.
The fact that you may think that you have perio disease is a step in the right direction. Many people don’t believe that they have any gum issues, because periodontal disease does not have to be painful. Many people have it and don’t have pain, therefore they don’t think anything is wrong. Scaling and Root Planing is not that bad according to all of the patients that I have performed it on. They usually end up saying wow that was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Usually the worst part of any dental procedure is the injections that we have to give the patient to get numb. It can be uncomfortable and burn a bit, but I think that the worst part for most of my patients that don’t like to get numb is the fear of needles, and the thought of having to get an injection in the mouth. I always go very slow when I have to numb somebody up, I place the topical and let it sit at least for two minutes. This way the gum tissue is already a bit numb before the actual injection. I know that many dentists just swab on the topical and immed. give the injection (not all, but many) without letting the topical sit long enough to do it’s work. We were taught in hygiene school to let the topical sit on your gum-tissue for at least two minutes for the max. benefit. I have had people time and time again tell me, wow your injections did not hurt at all. I had to inject my husband in hygiene school as one of my requirements to graduate, and he said that literally he did not feel the needle stick at all due to the longer placement of the topical. If your teeth get loose then this means that your perio disease has progressed to a severe state, don’t let it get to this point. Once you lose the bone support that hold your teeth in your mouth, you can never regain the bone again, without a bone grafting procedure, which does not always work. So find a good dentist, go through whatever treatment he/she rec’d's and get on a good recall schedule of care. If you have perio disease you should ideally be seeing the dentist/hygienist four times a year for cleanings, perio maintenance, and exams. This helps your dental professionals keep a closer watch on your disease so it hopefully does not progress to the point of no return, which means tooth loss, and possibly partials or dentures.