Dental Articles - Ajax
What Do the Early Stages of Gum Disease Look Like?
Posted by Dr. Nahida Kazi on Tue, 1 Aug 2023
What Do the Early Stages of Gum Disease Look Like?
The leading cause of global tooth loss among adults is gum disease. Gum disease affects you in two phases. When gum disease is identified and treated in the early stage, the condition is reversible to prevent tooth loss. Early-stage gum disease is preventable by maintaining excellent dental hygiene and getting regular cleanings from your Ajax dentist at six-monthly intervals.
If your dentist detects gum disease, they will advise steps for enhanced homecare and specialized dental office therapies to inhibit and reverse the problem.
Gingivitis: Early-Stage Gum Disease
Gingivitis affects the soft tissue of the gums without causing any discomfort. You will notice mild symptoms with early-stage gum disease, such as swollen and bleeding gums, halitosis, metallic taste in your mouth, receding gums, and spaces increasing between your teeth. Despite experiencing mild symptoms, visiting your dentist to assess your gums and receive gum disease treatment to prevent its progress to advanced periodontitis is essential.
Causes of Gum Disease
Improper dental hygiene regimen and the lack of six monthly cleanings from your dentist result in plaque buildup on your teeth, and hardening into tartar is the primary contributor to early-stage gingivitis. Some people have genetic factors playing a role by changing the immune system response to mouth bacteria.
Dental plaque contains different varieties of microorganisms harmful to the gums. Alternative risk factors for developing gum disease besides improper oral hygiene include smoking and tobacco use, diabetes, autoimmune diseases like lupus, scleroderma, or Crohn’s disease, hormonal changes during puberty, pregnancy, menopause, stress, genetics, and heart disease. Gum disease is a contagious condition that can spread between people from repeated long-term contact through saliva when kissing. Therefore when you notice the symptoms of early-stage gum disease or are exposed to other risk factors, you must exercise caution with your dental hygiene regimen and remain in constant contact with your dentist for six-monthly evaluations.
Complications Arising from Gingivitis
Gingivitis continues to worsen to wreak havoc with your oral health unless you receive treatment for the condition soon after noticing gum disease in Ajax, ON. Gum disease also impacts your overall health and wellness. An association exists between gum disease and other health issues like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and strokes. In addition, untreated gum disease or gingivitis gradually progresses to mild, moderate, and advanced periodontitis.
Early-stage gum disease, or periodontal disease, causes discoloured, swollen, and bleeding gums. When left untreated, the condition destroys your underlying jawbone, resulting in tooth loss. The tissue breakdown around your teeth occurs gradually. You may not experience pain with gingivitis, but knowing the warning signs is essential.
If you allow gingivitis to progress to mild periodontitis, your mouth bacteria seep under your gums, affecting the supporting bone pulling your gums away from your teeth and causing pockets to allow plaque and bacteria to remain trapped in them. Cleaning your teeth and the pockets with a toothbrush is challenging, making dental visits essential to prevent the advance of the condition.
Mild periodontitis advances to moderate when left untreated when the bacteria start eroding the tissues and bone making you develop bad breath and infection around the gum line. You may experience pain with moderate periodontitis. If the condition is allowed to progress to advanced periodontitis, bone deterioration continues causing your teeth to fall out eventually.
Gum disease is reversible if identified and treated early by receiving deep teeth cleanings with scaling and root planing to remove hardened tartar on your teeth nonremovable with brushing and flossing. However, if the condition progresses to advanced periodontitis, a cure for the condition is yet to be discovered by dentists. It indicates that if you ignore the early warning signs of gum disease by neglecting dental visits, you become vulnerable to a severe infection in your mouth, making more dental appointments essential at shorter intervals.
Gum disease in the advanced stages is not curable because of the loss of structural support around your teeth. However, periodontal treatment helps reduce infection and the building of bone and tissue by some level.
Gingivitis, the earliest phase of gum disease, is entirely reversible if identified by the dentist during routine appointments and maintaining an excellent dental hygiene regimen. However, advanced periodontal disease is non-reversible and becomes a life companion, needing expensive dental treatments to restore oral and overall health.
If you notice the symptoms of early-phase gum disease, it helps not to ignore the indicators but to seek treatment for the condition from Rossland Landing Dental Care before it advances to a severe infection. Advanced gum disease has no cure and will require frequent dental visits for expensive therapies.
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