Say Hello to an Infection-free Smile with Precise Periodontal Therapy
Do you notice blood spots when brushing and flossing your teeth? Are your gums swollen, or do you have persistent bad breath? These are classic symptoms of periodontal (gum) disease. You shouldn’t take gum infection lightly. If left untreated, periodontal disease doesn’t just damage the soft tissues in your gums. It can destroy the teeth-supporting bone structure, leading to tooth loss, as well as stroke and heart complications when the infection seeps into your bloodstream!
Gum disease is indeed scary. But the good news is that it’s easily treatable, especially in the early stages. Framingham Family Dental Care in Framingham, Massachusetts, offers preventive services to ward off gum disease. In addition, Drs. Arvi Duka and Adelina Duka provide periodontal therapy to stop gum disease in its tracks before it causes permanent damage.
Symptoms of gum disease
Poor oral hygiene is the leading cause of gum disease. When you fail to brush or floss your teeth effectively, plaque — a sticky, colorless film of bacteria, saliva, and food debris — forms on your teeth and along the gum line. When you fail to remove plaque with home dental care, it calcifies into tartar (calculus) within 48 hours.
The early stage of gum disease is called gingivitis. At this stage, plaque along the gum line inflames your gingival tissues causing the symptoms below:
- Gum swelling or redness
- Gum tenderness
- Bleeding when flossing and brushing your teeth
- Bad breath
If you don’t treat gingivitis, it’s a matter of time before it progresses to periodontitis. At this stage, the infection spreads below the gum line, pulling gums away from the teeth (gum recession). Eventually, the disease damages the connective tissue and the supporting bone, resulting in loose teeth that eventually fall out!
Gum disease treatment options
We can reverse gingivitis through optimal home dental care —brushing, flossing, and mouthwash — combined with regular dental cleanings. However, you need further intervention if you have mild to advanced gum disease.
Our periodontal therapy options include the following:
- Deep teeth cleaning: If you have undergone a regular dental cleaning, deep teeth cleaning is more like it but a bit extensive. After numbing your gums, we scale away dental calculus from your teeth surface and all the way to your tooth roots. In addition to scaling, we perform root planing to smooth your roots, removing embedded bacteria and encouraging the reattachment of gum tissue to your teeth.
- Laser dentistry: This minimally invasive procedure treats periodontal disease by removing the diseased tissue and reshaping your gum to restore health, function, and appearance to your gums.
Don’t let gum disease steal the glow of your gums. Please dial (508) 665-2016 to schedule an appointment with Framingham Family Dental Care for effective periodontal care. We are conveniently located at 434 Old Connecticut Path, 1st Floor, Framingham, MA, but we welcome new and returning patients from the nearby locations of Ashland, Natick, and Wayland, MA.