Periodontal
Periodontal care is all about keeping the connection between your gums (gingivae) and teeth healthy and strong, thereby preventing periodontal disease that can weaken your teeth and the bones supporting them. Periodontal disease starts out small as gingivitis (gum disease) when bacteria-laden dental plaque builds up around the border where the gums meet the teeth. Periodontal disease advances as plaque eventually turns into hard, cement-like tartar. Bacteria in the tartar can then spread deep into the gums, causing gum inflammation, infection, bleeding, and pain. If periodontal disease continues, it weakens the gums and the bones supporting your teeth. This can cause bone loss and tooth loss. The good news is that vigilant, daily oral hygiene at home (correct brushing and flossing every day) and visiting NKC Dental for regular periodontal care in North Kansas City, MO will help you keep a strong, healthy smile, preventing periodontal disease.
Implants
If you have lost one or more teeth to periodontal disease, you may benefit from having dental implants installed to restore your smile and the important functions of your missing teeth. Dental implants are artificial teeth created to look like your real teeth. Implant surgery involves screwing metal posts into the jawbone below the gumline with the artificial tooth visible on the surface.
Your North Kansas City dentist may recommend dental implants if your jawbone is still in good shape and bridges or dentures are not a good option for you. The implants’ metal post “roots” are made of titanium that welcomes the jawbone to fuse to it permanently. This prevents tooth movement or slippage while supporting your surrounding teeth and filling out a healthy smile. Implants may require several appointments and can take a long time to heal into your jawbone. Your dentist in North Kansas City will help you understand your options, so you can make the best choice for your oral health.
Periodontal Maintenance and Therapy
Of course, prevention is always the best option for dealing with periodontal disease. Brush your teeth at least twice daily, preferably after meals and before bedtime. Floss your teeth at least once a day too, and always keep your regular dental cleaning appointments. Taking these proactive steps can prevent or significantly slow periodontal disease.
Keep in mind, however, that non-surgical periodontal maintenance and therapy are more important as we age! Statistics show that nearly half of American adults over the age of 30 have some level of periodontal disease. Almost 70 percent of adults over the age of 65 have periodontal disease!
Periodontal therapy at NKC Dental is about restoring your gum health to manage and prevent periodontal disease from worsening. Regularly, we will measure gum attachment loss from your teeth in millimeters. If you have one or more teeth with 3mm or more of gum detachment, periodontal disease exists but can be managed. In addition to your regular bi-annual dental cleaning, we will do deeper, non-surgical cleanings that can help remove entrenched tartar and help heal the gums supporting your teeth.
Periodontal Surgery
If more conservative periodontal maintenance care isn’t enough to help you or your periodontal disease is severe, your North Kansas City dentist may recommend periodontal surgery. NKC Dental provides periodontal surgery to remove bacterial infection, restore gum tissue, and reshape the bones supporting your teeth. Depending on your situation, we may recommend one or more of these periodontal surgery options:
- Flap Surgery: We make incisions to lift sections of gum back from your teeth, clean out the hidden tartar, and then suture the gums securely back to your teeth. After your healing process is complete, regular oral hygiene will be easier.
- Bone Grafts: If periodontal disease has damaged the bones supporting your teeth, we can restore damaged areas with small tissue grafts from healthy bone tissue. This can reestablish the structure holding your teeth in place and can help re-grow bone tissue.
- Gum Grafts: Your dentist can replace small areas of damaged gum tissue with tissue from the roof of your mouth.
- Tissue Regeneration: This technique inserts a small bit of regenerative material between your gum and bone tissues to spur bone regrowth.
- Protein Addition: Your dentist can also apply a special protein gel to diseased root tissue to help regenerate damaged bone and gum tissues.
Of course, with any oral surgery, you will need to follow careful instructions on preparing for and recovering from the procedure. Depending on how extensive the periodontal surgery is, it may take a few days to recover.
Scaling and Root Planing
If you have light to moderate periodontal disease scaling and root planing are non-surgical treatments to manage and prevent the condition from worsening. During the appointment, your dental NKC Dental team will scrape tartar off your teeth from above and below the gumline. Root scaling removes tartar and resurfaces the root itself to slow and prevent periodontal disease from advancing. These are deeper, more involved cleaning procedures that may take more than one appointment because they dig deep into pockets of your gum tissue to remove tartar infection.
Bad Breath / Halitosis Therapy
One of the first symptoms of periodontal disease is halitosis or bad breath. This is because bacteria generate odors that cause bad breath. Your dentist in North Kansas City can diagnose the cause of your halitosis and provide the right combination of therapies to give you fresher breath, including recommendations for improving daily home dental hygiene, regular dental cleanings, periodontal care, and antibacterial mouthwashes.
Schedule Periodontal Care in North Kansas City, MO
Periodontal care is essential to your overall health, so schedule an appointment with us at NKC Dental in North Kansas City to get the proper diagnosis and care you need to keep your smile bright, strong, and healthy!
