How to Protect Your Smile from Periodontal Disease
Preserving a beautiful smile for a lifetime is everyone’s goal. However, very few people get to achieve this goal. The older you get, the higher the risk of your teeth getting damaged. An infection in any part of your mouth can quickly deteriorate your oral health, sabotaging the beauty of your smile and the health of your mouth.
One of the most common oral problems in dentistry is periodontal disease, which leads to many other oral problems, including the loss of teeth. Fortunately, there are treatments and measures you can take to ensure you protect your smile from periodontal disease.
What Is Periodontal Disease?
It is a medical term used to refer to a common dental problem called gum disease. It features the infection of the periodontium, which largely covers the gum tissue of the mouth. This disease is mostly found in adults, even though children can get it too.
Periodontal disease happens in two different stages, where one is a progressed severe stage:
- Gingivitis – is the initial stage of the infection. Few patients are aware of the symptoms of the infection at this stage.
- Periodontitis – is the advanced stage of the infection. At this stage, the bacteria attack more than just the gum tissue of the mouth. This means that even your teeth and bone tissue are at risk of significant damage from the infection. The symptoms associated with this stage of gum disease are hard to miss or ignore.
Can You Get Gum Disease?
One of the reasons why gum disease is very common among patients is because it can happen to anyone. However, some patients are at a higher risk of getting the infection than others. Before you even consider periodontal disease treatment, take your time to decipher whether you have gum disease or a different dental problem. This is the importance of having your oral cavity checked by a dentist near you.
Protecting Your Smile from Gum Disease
The good thing about modern dentistry is that it proves a leeway for patients to care for their oral cavities proactively. This way, even though dental issues like gum disease are severe and common, you can still protect your smile from getting the infection. An important thing is to combat the main causes of the infection so that you don’t resolve for rigorous measures like gum laser treatment. Some of the ways you can protect your smile include:
- Excel in oral hygiene – the most common cause of gum infection is poor oral hygiene. This accounts for the buildup of food particles and bacteria in the mouth to form plaque. Since plaque tends to sit at the lower parts of your teeth, it spreads the bacteria to your gum tissue, which is how an infection develops. If you work on brushing your teeth at least twice every day, you prevent plaque from forming on the surfaces of your teeth. While at it, be sure to floss on the regular, to ensure that the in-betweens of your teeth are just as clean as the rest of your mouth.
- Avoid tobacco usage – whether smoking, chewing, or sniffing, tobacco significantly increases your risk of gum disease.
- Drink in moderation – excessive consumption of alcohol is also a great risk factor for gum disease.
- Get checked for infections early – while you may not be a smoker or a drinker, other factors can increase your risk of getting gum disease. For one, if the condition runs in your family, you have a high chance of getting it too. Other than that, underlying health problems like diabetes can also be the reason for your infection. Since you cannot determine all this without the intervention of a medical expert, it is important to get your oral cavity checked as often as possible. This way, your dentist can keep monitoring the health of your gums with your medical history on site.
- Use a therapeutic mouthwash – you can easily find this over-the-counter. This mouthwash is designed to help treat gum infection, by preventing or reducing Gingivitis and its effects thereof.
Summary
Any kind of investment you can make to protect your teeth from damage, infection, and diseases is worth it in the long run.