Gum Disease Treatment

At Discovery Dental clinic, your  holistic dentist Dr. Vanama protects the health of the whole body through dental considerations. For example, we now know that gum disease can damage and affect systems elsewhere in the body, along with causing bad breath and red, inflamed gums.

That’s because the microbes that cause gum infection and inflammation can multiply on the gums, cause bleeding, and enter the bloodstream. These microbes can attack: 

• The heart, leading to a higher chance of heart attack. 
• Systems that are linked to diabetes. 
• The brain, which can suffer from cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, stroke, dementia, and other problems. 
• Various tissues that become inflamed, which may cause arthritis. 
• The uterus, leading to birth complications.

Gum disease also threatens the surface material of your teeth, as well as the roots of teeth. Keep your teeth safer and protect other bodily systems. Avoid tooth extractions. Make an appointment at your local dentist office in Issaquah, Discovery Dental, for a checkup and cleaning.

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Ways We Clean Up Gum Disease

At the dentist office, we have three ways of cleaning gum disease and restoring your dental health. 

Professional Cleaning

When gum disease is in an early stage (gingivitis), your family dental practice team will clean it with a general cleaning. The dental hygienist may find that tartar and/or plaque has hardened on your teeth, caused by bacteria, which can release harmful acid that can damage your teeth and gums. 

Using professional cleaning instruments, your hygienist will remove the buildup that you are not able to clean off with a toothbrush or floss at home. Dental cleaning will focus on the teeth above the gumline and slightly below it, in some cases. 

If your teeth have had to be cleaned because of mild gum disease, we need to follow up to be sure that it doesn’t come back. Your family dentist may recommend another preventive dentistry cleaning appointment within several months—possibly three to four times per year.

Scaling and Root Planing

When gum disease has reached a later stage, the gums start to detach from the teeth, leaving a hidden space where bacteria can multiply. This leaves teeth exposed to damage. Without dental services, certain teeth could eventually become so diseased that we would recommend extraction. 

Scaling and root planing at our dental practice, though, can heal and protect your teeth. Here’s how it works: 

• Scaling: Your dental specialist uses professional instruments to clean the surface of your teeth under the gumline, down to the root of the tooth (the part of the tooth normally hidden). Certain tools are needed to reach the small space formed between the gums and teeth, and we will use anesthesia (and optional sedation dentistry) to keep you comfortable.
• Planing: We shape and smooth the surface of the tooth below the gumline. This encourages the gums to reattach to the teeth. 

As your gums recover, they should form a healthy attachment to your teeth again, because the bacteria that was damaging them has been cleaned away. Your gums will then protect and nourish your teeth again, given proper ongoing dental care.

Laser Gum Treatment (LANAP)

For advanced cases of gum disease, we can use the laser-assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP) to heal your gums and bone. 

What does this mean? Instead of using the contact of physical tools to clean bacteria below the gumline, we use laser dentistry to precisely destroy the bacteria. The laser also leaves healthy gum tissue intact, even stimulating it to grow after the procedure. Cleared by the FDA, professional dental lasers cause very little bleeding and usually require no stitches afterwards.

Contact Periodontist Dr. Vanama for Gum Disease Treatment

The best way to catch gum disease before it happens is to have regularly scheduled general dentistry appointments at a dentist office. We will measure your gum pocket depth and complete other checks to ensure your gums are healthy—or that we schedule effective cleaning and recovery services. Call Discovery Dental for a comfortable, friendly, affordable dentistry appointment.

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