When you have a routine cleaning, this helps remove plaque and tartar to keep your smile healthy and to avoid issues like gingivitis and gum disease. But what if you already exhibit the warning signs of these issues? In these situations, you may need a periodontal cleaning! In today’s blog, your Lake Orion, MI, dentist looks at periodontal cleanings, also known as a scaling and root planing.
The Warning Signs of Gingivitis and Disease
How do you know if you need to arrange for a cleaning? If you attend these routine visits every six months, then you likely won’t need a periodontal cleaning, and if so, we will be able to address the concern in the earliest stages, often before you exhibit these common warning signs. Otherwise, you may not know your smile is in danger until you experience sore, red gums that bleed easily. There could also be recession and swelling. Chronic bad breath is also a factor. At the gingivitis stage, we can reverse inflammation. Once gum disease occurs there is no cure, but we can use a deep cleaning followed by traditional ones every six months to manage it and keep the disease in check.
The Dangers of the Disease
Without treatment, periodontal disease could reach a more advanced state known as periodontitis. At this stage, the tissues that connect your teeth and gums could dissolve. Without these tissues, you suffer from tooth loss. In fact, this is the number one cause of adult tooth loss, and lack of treatment could mean you develop issues eating and speaking, and could suffer a prematurely aged appearance. But when you seek treatment at the first changes in your gingival tissues, we could help you avoid tooth loss and over negative impacts, so you preserve the health, beauty, and function of your smile.
Scaling and Root Planing
The procedure begins with our team administering a local numbing agent to keep you comfortable throughout the procedure. We then use an ultrasonic scaling device and a manual tool to break up and remove plaque and tartar from the surfaces of the teeth, as would with a traditional cleaning. But we also remove deposits of bacteria and buildup from the exposed roots and from underneath the gum line too! Doing so helps reduce the depth of periodontal pockets and allows health issues to reattach to the teeth, so your gum disease can be managed with preventive care moving forward. The procedure could take one visit or up to four, and we will polish your teeth afterward for a brighter appearance.
Do You Have Questions About Periodontal Cleaning?
Contact Lake Orion Family Dentistry in Lake Orion, MI by calling 248-693-6213 to schedule your next appointment with our team to keep your gums healthy and strong.
