Gum Care Awareness and Oral Surgery

Do you know what the month of September represents? Of course, there are many things, but one of the most important is gum care. This month is all about raising awareness for gum care and what you need to do to prevent gum disease. After all, gum disease is a real problem for adults and kids alike. It can cause a number of problems, including tooth loss.

Keeping your gums healthy affects more than just your teeth. In fact, your gums protect you from harmful bacteria. Once you develop gum disease, it’s easy for the infection to spread to the rest of your body via your bloodstream. This can lead to a number of health-related problems, such as stroke and heart disease.

Let’s talk a bit more about gum disease and how to prevent it. We’ll also discuss what you can do when gum disease progresses to a point that your dentist can no longer treat it.

It’s time to visit a dentist in South Hampton Roads! Call today to make an appointment! 

Gum Disease: The Silent Killer

Gum disease is something that can come about quickly. In fact, you may have some level of gum disease and not even know it. That’s because the first stage of gum disease doesn’t have many symptoms.

Visiting your dentist regularly is a great way to spot the signs early. Meanwhile, a good way to prevent gum disease is to develop a reliable oral health routine that takes the health of your gums into account.

However, what happens if you leave gum disease untreated? When that happens, it can progress into something far worse. You see, gum disease is what dentists refer to as a progessive disease. The first stage, gingivitis, is fairly easy for dentists to treat if it’s found quickly. If not, it can progress into periodontitis.

Once it becomes periodontitis, your regular dentist may not be able to help you anymore. You might have to visit an oral surgeon to reverse the damage that periodontitis caused. At this stage, the disease can eat away at connective tissues and even destroy the bone that supports your teeth.

When left untreated, gum disease can cause health problems beyond your mouth. Research has linked it to heart attacks, certain cancers, and other diseases.

Seeking Out an Oral Surgeon

If you can detect gum disease early, your dentist should be able to treat it. This type of noninvasive treatment typically involves deep cleanings and scaling. When left untreated, it’s common for this oral problem to develop into something that needs treatment from an oral surgeon. Only a surgeon has the ability to reverse the damage that gum disease causes.

Types of Oral Surgeries

If there’s something that you should learn during the month of gum care awareness, it’s that the damage caused by gum disease can be reversed. While it’s best to treat it before oral surgery is needed, there’s help out there if you run into a situation where gum disease has progressed too far. Here are a few of the surgeries that your South Hampton Roads surgeon could perform for you.

Oral Flap Surgery

Gum disease can cause significant tartar buildup in your mouth. Sometimes, this tartar can build up within pockets in your gums, which is hard to clean. With flap surgery, your oral surgeon can easily clean these pockets.

This surgery involves the surgeon lifting your gums away from your teeth. Then, the surgeon can remove the tartar buildup. Once complete, the surgeon will reattach your gums.

Tissue Grafting

Tissue grafting is common for people who suffer from gum disease. That’s because the tissue around your teeth is typically the first thing that gum disease destroys. With tissue grafting surgery, your oral surgeon can replace your gums in areas where it may have receded.

When performing this surgery, your surgeon will use tissue from another area of your body to replace the damaged tissue. For example, the replacement tissue could come from the roof of your mouth because it closely matches your gum tissue.

Bone Grafting

Gum disease can cause tons of problems in your mouth. We already know that it can make your gums recede, but did you know that it can also cause damage to the bone around your teeth? When it progresses to this point, your only option for treatment is bone grafting.

For bone grafting, your oral surgeon has a few options regarding where to get the bone. It may come from another area of your body. On the other hand, the surgeon could use a manufactured or artificial bone. A third option is to use a donor bone. Regardless of which option your surgeon believes is best for you, the goal is still the same: restore your mouth to working order.

Recovering From Oral Surgery

One reason why some people avoid oral surgery is because they fear that it will take too long to recover. However, the mouth is one of the quickest healing areas on the body. That said, the actual time it takes to recover depends on a number of factors.

The age of the person getting the surgery as well as the person’s overall health play big roles in estimating the recovery time. Also, the type of surgery being performed will have an effect on how long it takes to recover.

Of course, your surgeon will give you some tips on how you can recover as quickly as possible from oral surgery. Typically, these tips involve avoiding solid foods and taking it easy for a few days afterward.

Let Us Perform Your Oral Surgery

If you find yourself in need of oral surgery, your goal should be to find a place that’s affordable and will treat you right. We provide oral surgery that’s reliable and fits your budget. To start on the path to better gums in South Hampton Roads, call us. We can schedule an appointment to get your gum disease problem taken care of sooner rather than later.