Periodontal Care Once you have had professional teeth and gum cleaning, also known as deep cleaning or planing and scaling, periodontal maintenance and care are needed. As part of your oral health and hygiene routines, our dental team at 253 Dental Care advises that you get periodontal maintenance at least after every three months. The aim of this dental routine is to help prevent the further occurrence of periodontal disease. Periodontitis, or gum disease, happens when plaque and bacteria build up in the gums and on the teeth. Periodontal care may also be required after you have received periodontal surgery. Why Would You Need Periodontal Care and Maintenance?When it comes to the cause of gum disease, there are things that come into play, including bacteria, the immune system, and environmental factors such as smoking. Our gum disease maintenance and care procedures help break the triad that contributes to gum disease. Often, our periodontist will remove bacteria that lead to inflammatory responses. Although there is no cure for gum disease, preventive dental practices can help protect the gums and the teeth. Gum disease is only managed with proper oral hygiene and regular visits to our dental office. Periodontal maintenance care and cleaning, besides preventing gum disease, also help manage other inflammatory diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Since bacteria in the mouth can advance to attack other organs, it is likely that they worsen chronic conditions you may be suffering from. Our periodontist will also offer you more tips to help manage and prevent gum disease. For instance, we recommend that you maintain a healthy diet rich in nutrients, vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. You also need exercise to assist the body to fight inflammation. You need to reduce or quit smoking to help enhance your immunity and help the body to fight gum infection naturally. Smoking worsens periodontitis. When Should You have a Periodontal Maintenance Cleaning?Our periodontist helps determine how often you should get periodontal maintenance care and cleanings depending on the amount of gum recession or inflammation you have. Bacteria linked to gum disease tend to repopulate the gums three months following a professional cleaning or planing and scaling. Therefore, we suggest you have maintenance intervals of three months. We alternate these visits with general dental checkups you receive from our team so that our dentists can monitor for things like cavities. The ProcedureGum disease maintenance and care routines help maintain the work that has been done by scaling and root planing or deep cleaning. It also helps keep the gums healthy in patients who have received gum disease treatment through surgical procedures. A regular dental cleaning also referred to as prophy, helps clean around and on crowns of the teeth. However, there are times when plaque goes beyond the visible part of the teeth to hide in areas such as the gum pockets. Periodontal maintenance care and cleaning is a more detailed cleaning procedure. It goes further to clean under the gums as well as around the roots. This way, our periodontist removes the tartar along with the bacteria that contribute to inflammatory response, which leads to gum disease. To treat and prevent gum disease, which is highly linked to tooth loss, visit our dental office at 253 Dental Care. Call us at (253) 765-0184 to speak to one of our staff about gum disease treatment and maintenance. |
