Soft Tissue Grafts
Periodontal procedures are available to stop further dental problems and gum recession, and/or to improve the esthetics of your gum line.
Exposed tooth roots are the result of gum recession. Perhaps you wish to enhance your smile by covering one or more of these roots that make your teeth appear too long. Or, maybe you’re not bothered by the appearance of these areas, but you cringe because the exposed roots are sensitive to hot or cold foods and liquids.
Your gums may have receded for a variety of reasons, including aggressive tooth brushing or periodontal disease. You may not be in control of what caused the recession, but prior to treatment your periodontist can help you identify the factors contributing to the problem. Once these contributing factors are controlled, a soft tissue graft procedure will repair the defect and help to prevent additional recession and bone loss.
Soft tissue grafts can be used to cover roots or develop gum tissue where absent due to excessive gingival recession. During this procedure, your periodontist takes gum tissue from your palate or another donor source to cover the exposed root. This can be done for one tooth or several teeth to even your gum line and reduce sensitivity.
What are the benefits of this procedure?
A soft tissue graft can reduce further recession and bone loss. In some cases, it can cover exposed roots to protect them from decay. This may reduce tooth sensitivity and improve esthetics of your smile. Whether you have a soft tissue graft to improve function or esthetics, patients often receive the benefits of both: a beautiful new smile and improved periodontal health – your keys to smiling, eating and speaking with comfort and confidence.
Source: perio.org
Periodontal Disease and Diabetes
Individuals who seek treatment for periodontal disease may be good candidates for blood tests for diabetes. There is a known correlation between the two conditions, and new research suggests that blood samples taken from the mouth may accurately detect the presence of diabetes.
For the study, researchers from New York University took blood test samples from the mouths and fingertips of individuals seeking treatment for periodontal disease. Fingertips are generally the standard location from which to draw samples.
The results showed that samples drawn from pockets of inflammation in the mouth were as accurate at diagnosing diabetes as ones taken from the fingers.
Given the high number of people with undiagnosed diabetes, the researchers said their findings could be useful in identifying those who may benefit from treatment. This may help improve the health of those suffering from the condition without knowing.
“In light of these findings, the dental visit could be a useful opportunity to conduct an initial diabetes screening – an important first step in identifying those patients who need further testing to determine their diabetes status,” said Dr. Shiela Strauss, who led the study.
Source: privatelabsmd.com
Teething
Teething generally starts between 3 and 9 months of age, when your infant’s baby teeth will begin to erupt or emerge into the mouth. Since teething can make your child irritable or fussy and may cause restlessness, drooling or loss of appetite, it is safe to assume that it causes the gums to be sore or painful at the spot where the tooth is trying to break through. As your child grows older, and adult teeth erupt, teething pain can be experienced again. Adults can also experience teething pain and sore gums years later, when their wisdom teeth try to emerge into the mouth. Sometimes this can be a long process, with episodes of soreness where the wisdom tooth is trying to push through the gum tissue.
Since teething is a normal process which results in injury or stress to the gums, it is generally self limiting and self healing. Teething rings for infants or applying pressure over the gums by rubbing them with a clean finger can help relieve symptoms. For older children or adults, a variety of over the counter remedies to relieve symptoms, are readily available at health food stores.
Source: drpgilbert.com
Sore Gum Causes
Canker sores, also called apthous ulcers, are painful, round, sores that show up
in several places in the mouth, such as on the inside of the lips, inside the cheeks, on the tongue, and at the base of the gums. Canker sores are easily confused with cold sores caused by the herpes virus. One way to distinguish
between the two is that canker sores occur inside the mouth, whereas herpetic
sores are generally seen on the outside of the body, including the lips.
Canker sores usually last about two weeks and fortunately, the period of discomfort when your gums are sore is often only a few days for most people.
Canker sores generally heal with out any intervention or scaring, although larger
ones, a half inch across or bigger, may leave scars.
Source: drpgolbert.com
Why do you have Sore Gums?
There are a variety of conditions that can cause your gums to be sore. Some ailments are of dental origin and some are not. You may need professional help from a dentist or physician with some of the causes of sore gums described on this page.
Please keep in mind that gum conditions that are generally painless have not been included here. An example is Vitamin C deficiency, or scurvy, which causes bleeding gums, but the gums are not painful. The common forms of gum disease, gingivitis and periodontitis, also produce bleeding, but not painful gums.
Source: drpgilbert.com
Chronic Gum Disease
Why does the chronic stage of gum disease sometimes change to an acute and painful stage?Examples of toxic stresses are medical conditions like diabetes and AIDS, or chemical insults like synthetic additives in the processed foods most people eat every day.
The worst case scenario is when your immune system is so over burdened by toxic stresses, including the toxins from germs, that the germs in your infected gums can over whelm your immune system.
You can then end up with the symptoms of a painful gum abscess. By this time the nerve in your tooth is also infected, because the germs in your infected gums can pass through tiny pores in the root, called dentinal tubules, and into the nerve. Your tooth has become infected internally and externally, surrounded by abscessed, infected tissue which has replaced the jaw bone destroyed by the gum infection. Sometimes you will see pus and blood oozing from the gum margin of the painful tooth.
Now your advanced gum disease has arrived at the final acute stage of periodontal disease. Even if prompt dental treatment, usually with antibiotics, is able to reverse the acute symptoms so that they become painless and chronic once more, the acute stage will typically make its ugly head appear again sometime after using up the prescribed antibiotics. Worse yet is the fact that this can happen to more than one tooth in your mouth.
With such severely infected teeth in your jaw bone, your body can no longer successfully heal your jaw bone. Teeth with end stage gum disease are like a foreign body in your mouth. The likelihood of saving your teeth isn’t very promising. You ultimately lose teeth, either by having them removed by a
dentist, or they come out, usually when you are eating. Not a desired outcome for most people.
Source: drpgilbert.com
Diagnosing Gingivitis & Periodontal Disease
How do dentists or hygienists diagnose gingivitis or other stages of periodontal disease in your mouth?
Your dentist or hygienist looks for gum disease by gently probing and measuring the depth of the normally small space between your gums and your teeth at the gum line.
They do this with a special dental instrument called a periodontal probe. The normal depth of the space between your tooth and gums is generally between one to three millimeters, which is about an eighth of an inch. If the measured depth falls in this range, and your gums bleed when they are gently probed, this is the symptom of infection that dentists use to diagnosis gingivitis, the first stage of gum disease. Even if you have been seeing your dentist or dental hygienist regularly, finding out that you have gum disease may come as a surprise, since gum disease is usually painless.
Source: drpgilbert.com
Healthy gums are never infected
How can I tell if my gums are healthy and I don’t have gum disease?
Healthy gums are never infected. When your gums are healthy, they are firmly attached to your teeth by what is called the periodontal, ligament. Periodontal means around the tooth. The attachment is strong and tight enough to prevent any germs or their toxins from getting through, and any body fluids, like blood, from getting out. You can usually recognize when you have a healthy gum attachment because your gums will be pink, firm, and never bleed or hurt with routine brushing, flossing, or when chewing food.
Source: drpgilbert.com
Stages of Gum Disease
Gum disease and periodontal disease are one and the same.
Dentists use the name periodontal disease for gum disease. The common form of chronic gum disease is traditionally divided up into four stages as it progresses, or perhaps, we should say, as it worsens. However, the end point of the forth stage is really a separate fifth stage.
- The first stage is called gingivitis. Gingivitis is considered to be an infection characterized by inflammation. The inflammation produces bleeding from your gums, which is the most frequently occurring symptom. Your gums will bleed when you are brushing or flossing your teeth and when you are eating. Generally there is no pain.
- The second stage is called early gum disease or early periodontal disease.
At this stage of gum disease, the types of germs associated with infections that destroy living tissue, are always found in the plaque on your teeth, and in your gums. Because the infection is destructive, it breaks apart the connection of your gums to your teeth. Your gums start to separate from your teeth, forming gum pockets or spaces between your teeth and your gums. Your gums may still bleed easily.
- The third stage is called moderate gum disease. As the disease worsens and your gums become further detached from your teeth, the pockets deepen, because now the bone around your teeth is starting to be destroyed by the infection. Often, this destructive process has very mild symptoms, causing most people to have few, if any, immediate concerns. Sometimes your gums may start to recede, although many times there is no recession. Bleeding from your gums may be less frequent during this stage of gum disease.
- The forth stage is called advanced gum disease. Eventually, your teeth may become loose because a significant amount of bone supporting them is lost from the gum infection. Your gum pockets may now be almost as deep as the length of the root. You may notice some gum recession. Pain is usually still absent. Bleeding from your gums is variable, because by now the infection is mostly at the bottom of the gum pocket.
At this stage, you may begin to wonder if you are going to lose any of your teeth. You may now also realize that you have a bad taste in your mouth or suspect that you have bad breath. The truth is that a degree of unpleasant breath may have been present throughout all the previous stages, without your being aware of it.
- The last or fifth stage of gum disease is called acute gum disease. It occurs when the chronic, largely painless infection involving any number of teeth in your mouth, becomes an acute and painful gum abscess around one of those teeth. Pus mixed with blood may sometimes be seen draining out at the gum line. Now your gum disease gets your attention.
Depending on any dental treatment and the state of your immune system, your gum infection may fluctuate back and forth between the chronic stage and the acute stage. The painful symptoms of this stage of gum disease may motivate you to seek immediate dental treatment. You may find yourself losing one or more teeth in spite of receiving dental care. From the time that gingivitis, the first stage begins, until the acute final stage rears its offensive symptoms, many years may elapse.
Source: drgilbert.com
A Health Drink for Your Teeth
Which is better for your teeth — orange juice or tea?
Turns out that OJ ranks right up there with soda in terms of its enamel-damaging potential. But tea’s effect on teeth is like water’s: It leaves enamel unscathed.
Guard Your Teeth
Think of enamel as armor for your teeth. Once that armor gets worn down or damaged, it can’t repair itself. That’s why acidic beverages — soda, citrus juice, sports drinks — are so bad for your pearly whites: They contain enamel-stripping acids (phosphoric, citric, malic, and tartaric acids, to name a few). But green and black teas don’t attack enamel, and they even have a bit of tooth-friendly fluoride to boot.
Source: Realage.com