General Dentist Airdrie
Periodontal / Gum Disease

With periodontal treatment, one of our specialists will thoroughly clean the pockets around your teeth to control the bacteria that cause gum disease. Gum disease is caused by bacteria that live inside your mouth. These bacteria adhere to enamel, irritate gums, and cause bleeding. In advanced cases, gum disease or periodontal disease can damage the gum and bone supporting your teeth, resulting in tooth loss.

What to expect during periodontal treatment

Periodontal treatment is administered over multiple appointments depending on the severity of your case. We shall also educate you on the best ways of cleaning your teeth and gums to prevent the buildup of bacteria.

Periodontal Surgery

For advanced cases periodontitis, we usually find that the gum tissue does not respond to the previously mentioned non-surgical treatments and proper dental hygiene. As such, any of the following periodontal surgical treatments may be recommended:

• Soft tissue grafts: Periodontal disease often causes the loss of gum tissue, resulting in recession of the gum line. In such cases, it is important to reinforce the damaged soft tissue by extracting a small amount of tissue from the palate (roof of the mouth) or a donor and binding it to the affected site. This simple procedure will not only prevent further gum recession, but also cover exposed roots and give you an attractive smile.
• Pocket reduction surgery: Also referred to as flap surgery, this procedure involves making minute cuts in your gum to allow part of the gum tissue to be lifted back. With the roots of your teeth exposed, we can more effectively carry out scaling and root planing. If your case of periodontitis has resulted in bone loss, we may re-contour the underlying bone before suturing the gum tissue back in place.
• Bone grafting: In very severe cases of periodontitis, the bone surrounding your tooth root may be damaged. So, we may need to take small pieces of your own bone, or from a donor, or synthetic bone for hard tissue grafting to hold the affected tooth in place to prevent tooth loss and facilitate the regrowth of natural bone.

Non-surgical gum treatments

If your case of gum disease is not advanced, we can use less invasive gum treatment procedures such as:

• Scaling: This involves the use of instruments of an ultrasonic device to remove bacteria and tartar from your tooth enamel surfaces, as well as beneath the gums
• Root planing: This is an important procedure to smoothen root surfaces and inhibit further buildup of calculus and bacterial endotoxin
• Administer antibiotics: Depending on your case, we may recommend that you use oral or topical antibiotics such as mouth rinses or gels containing antibiotics that fit into your gum pockets after deep cleaning. Usually, we give our patients oral antibiotics to completely get rid of the infection-causing bacteria.

Get periodontal disease treatment today

Failure to get periodontal (gum) treatment in a timely manner may result in a lot of tooth pain and eventually tooth loss. In some cases, gum disease could be an indicator of other health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, and dementia. So, visit Bayside Dental & Orthodontics today to get your teeth and gums checked.