Summary
Gum disease can be painless yet destructive. If the disease process is not stopped, the tooth will eventually be lost.
Our specially trained hygienists will give your teeth a thorough clean and teach you how to keep your teeth and gums healthy.
The big picture
To simplify issues, the health of any single tooth can be looked at in three ways. We can look at the integrity of the structure of the tooth. We would look at whether it has holes, or big fillings, or is dark. We can look at whether there is a problem with the nerve inside the tooth. Is the nerve dead? Is the tooth very sensitive from an inflamed nerve? Lastly, we need to look at the supporting structures of the tooth. The tooth is only there because it is supported by bone, and there are periodontal tissues joining that tooth to the bone. Gingival tissues seal above and protect that periodontal ligament from the myriad of bacteria that live in the mouth.
Periodontal disease is, unfortunately, extremely common. The crevice where the tooth joins the gum is initially very shallow, and easy to clean with simple brushing and flossing. But with time and a less than enthusiastic cleaning regime this crevice starts to harbour some bacteria that then begin to cause a loss of attachment of that gingival cuff that normally keeps the bacteria away from the underlying bone. The crevice gets deeper, and even though the gum may look normal to a casual inspection there is a pocket forming around the tooth. Once this has formed then cleaning becomes much more difficult, and the destructive forces accelerate. Usually this is quite painless, and a patient might not even know that they have ‘gum disease’. Hopefully they will have some form of a regular check and the dentist will pick up what is happening early enough to stop the process. If not, then the pockets can get so deep that they are impossible to clean and then the tooth will eventually be lost.
A regular check and clean is essential to ensure that this silent and painless condition is prevented if at all possible. We recommend six monthly checks and cleans for most patients. Some patients are very lucky and can get away with going less frequently, but some need to be seen every three months. At Sage Dental, we have dentists who will do checks and cleans, plus two specially trained hygienists who will very thoroughly clean and instruct you on how to keep your teeth and gums healthy. Some patients will still need to see a specialist periodontist to try and stop their ongoing disease process.
