The gums, along with the jawbone and surrounding ligaments, are a vital part of your oral health. When your gums are damaged by gum disease, your overall health can be impacted as well as causing pain and distress. Signs of periodontic trouble include red and bloody gums, loose teeth, and gums that have pulled away from teeth. If you’ve experienced any of these unsettling symptoms, or suspect other periodontic issues, don’t delay in asking Dr. Johnson what he can do for you. In many cases, gum health may be greatly improved and even restored by proper treatments.
Scaling is the process of removing tartar and plaque from your teeth, and is an important part of your routine checkups. Periodontic scaling takes things one step further, by removing plaque, tartar, and affected tissue from below the gumline. This type of deep scaling is vital in order to clear out the bacteria and begin healing. Root planing is the same kind of scaling, but focused on the roots of the teeth.
Sometimes, gum disease will loosen a tooth in its socket or damage it beyond repair. When that happens, the dentist will extract the tooth for the good of the surrounding tissue.
When a tooth is extracted, the resulting empty space in your gum is the socket, and the socket itself rests inside a part of the jawbone known as the alveolar ridge. Sometimes, the empty socket will cause the ridge bone to collapse, resulting in shrinking and a visible change in lips and cheeks, and rendering the space unfit for further restoration work. Ridge/socket preservation is the technique of preserving the bone and minimizing bone loss, normally by packing the empty socket with material that encourages healing and eliminates the possibility of bone shrinkage or collapse. In addition to improving your appearance, ridge/socket preservation also retains the original socket and bone structure so that dental implants or bridges can be placed.
The “frenum” is the strip of tissue connecting the gums to the surrounding mouth. The dentist may recommend removal of these strips (a “frenectomy”) if they are causing gums to gap and recede through excessive pulling. This is a safe and effective procedure with a quick recovery time.
Crown lengthening can be performed for several reasons: in order to improve the health of the gums, to prepare the gums or teeth for a further procedure, or to correct a smile in which too much gum is visible. The procedure reshapes and contours the gum tissue in order to expose more of the tooth, and can be done on a single tooth or an entire set. This can be done as a cosmetic procedure or to prepare the tooth for a crown or other restoration.
When you trust your periodontic care to Tawas Bay Dental, you can feel certain your oral health is in good hands.