Hello everyone, I'm Kim. I'm a dental hygienist here at Bailey Dental Group. Today we're here to talk about periodontal disease.
What is periodontal disease?
Periodontal disease is an infection of the bone and the tissues that support the teeth.
What are some of the causes of periodontal disease?
Some various causes of periodontal disease are, for one, it can be hereditary. It can be caused by smoking, poor health. Some are finding that some autoimmune diseases show up in the mouth as well. So many different factors.
What are some of the symptoms of periodontal disease?
Some of the symptoms of periodontal disease that one would experience would be, you know, noticing some bad breath even after brushing and flossing and even using mouthwash. I'm noticing some spacing of the teeth and some looseness of the teeth sometimes. Remember, periodontal disease doesn't always hurt, and when it does hurt, a lot of times it's at the end stages or hard to manage. But hang in there, we can still do our best; we're going to save those teeth.
What are other conditions that are connected to periodontal disease?
I'm glad you brought that up. Some other conditions are heart disease. They're even finding that Alzheimer's is connected to periodontal disease. Many autoimmune issues as well, and diseases, if you will, such as lupus, various ones.
Can periodontal disease be cured?
Periodontal disease may be managed; there is no cure for it, but we do like to take care—can we start over on that one? Oh, periodontal disease cannot be cured at this time, but let's not lose hope. A lot of times—nope, start over. There is no cure for periodontal disease, but hang on, there may be sometime in our lifetime there will be a cure. But we can manage periodontal disease. We can do scaling and root planning, some patients need surgeries, but just like any condition that's well managed, with the patient doing everything compliant, we can manage it, and it can be in a controlled state.
What treatment options are available for fighting periodontal disease?
The treatment options are scaling and root planning, which we do gently and lovingly. We numb up the mouth gently—I like to say that so our patients feel comforted—along with topical first, and we scale and we go and do our best to remove that black tartar toxins, to combat that so we can gain tissue strength—no, I don't like that.
Are teeth cleaning and periodontal treatment painful?
No, they are not. We pride ourselves here at Bailey Dental Group in managing pain. We make it so that patients don't have pain. Oh, are teeth cleaning and periodontal treatment painful? I'd like to say no because—oh, gotcha. Are teeth cleaning and periodontal treatment painful? A teeth cleaning and periodontal treatment are not painful. We do our best to listen to our patients, apply the topical before numbing, and take our time. We really pride ourselves here at Bailey Dental Group in making sure all of our patients are comfortable, so we want to provide the best care with the littlest amount of discomfort.
How can I schedule a dental appointment?
You can schedule a dental appointment by calling Bailey Dental Group at (586) 800-2250.
I hope that we've been able to answer some of your questions here at Bailey Dental Group.