Non-Surgical Gum Therapy in St. Catharines Ontario
If your gums bleed when you brush or floss your teeth, there’s a good chance that you may have gum disease. Gum disease is caused when the sticky invisible bacteria known as plaque builds up in your mouth. If it isn’t removed daily from brushing and flossing, it can build up and cause inflammation of your gum tissues. This stage is known as gingivitis, which causes the gums to become inflamed and bleed easily. The good news is that gingivitis doesn’t break down your tissues so it can be stopped and reversed with good oral hygiene. If gingivitis is allowed to progress, it turns into periodontal disease. During this stage, the infection starts to break down your gum and bone tissues, causing pockets to form between teeth. Food debris and bacteria become trapped in these pockets, leading to further deterioration of your tissues. As the tissues continue to break down, your teeth will eventually loosen and fall out.
During your checkup, the dentist will perform a comprehensive cleaning to remove plaque and tartar buildup. These regular cleanings help to prevent plaque and tartar that can cause gum disease. If gum disease is present and depending on the stage of it, the dentist may recommend non-surgical gum therapy.
Non-surgical gum therapy is a deeper cleaning which uses a number of non-surgical techniques (scaling and root planing) to remove the harmful bacteria that is causing the chronic inflammation of your tissues. Scaling eradicates the plaque and tartar from above and below the gum line while root planing smoothes out the rough spots on the tooth’s root. This process gives the tooth a clean bacteria-free surface for the gum tissues to heal around. The dentist will perform scaling and root planing if there are plaque and tartar that needs to be removed under the gum line.
Your treatment sessions will likely be spread out over a period to allow us to monitor your gum disease. If non-surgical gum therapy is not enough to eradicate the gum disease, we can recommend you to a periodontist who can surgically treat it. Contact Carlton Dental, Family Dentist in St Catharines, to set up an appointment today.