Different Types of Periodontal Treatment in Oakland

One of the most common dental issues in dentistry has to do with bacterial infections. They can affect your teeth, but just as much, your gums. Such infections may not be life-threatening or severe when they start. However, when left untreated, a bacterial infection in your mouth can severely deteriorate your oral health and cause many other oral issues.

What Is Periodontal Disease?

It is a condition that features an infection of the gums and the periodontium at large. This kind of infection starts small but progresses and advances into a serious dental problem that can cause permanent damages to your oral cavity. Dentists in Berkeley handle many cases of periodontal disease, as it is very common in dentistry.

Unfortunately, many patients come in for treatment when it is too late. As such, the treatment options applied are often drastic to mitigate the advanced symptoms of the infection. This is why you must determine to seek treatment even for mild and moderate symptoms. This way, you can avoid visiting an emergency dentist near you for periodontal treatment. Some of the symptoms to consider regarding periodontal disease include the following:

1. Bleeding gums
2. Pain in your gums and jaw – especially when you eat hard foods
3. Swollen and reddened gums
4. Receding gums – gums pulling away from your teeth. You will begin to notice that your teeth appear bigger than usual, as your gums appear smaller
5. Bad breath, despite brushing your teeth
6. Mouth sores – they usually keep coming back, as long as there is an infection lingering in your mouth
7. Shaky teeth – is typical of advanced periodontal disease

Types of Treatments for Periodontal Disease

Patients receive different periodontal treatments in Oakland. It depends on the severity of their infection, as well as the amount of dental work needed to restore the proper health of their oral cavity. Some of the viable treatments for periodontal disease in dentistry include the following:

1. Lifestyle changes – every time you visit a dentist in Oakland for treatment of your gums, lifestyle changes are the first recommendations he/she will make. The reason is that most cases of gum disease come about as a result of poor lifestyle choices. Therefore, your dentist will recommend changes in the following areas:

1. Quit smoking and all other tobacco usages
2. Quit or reduce your consumption of alcohol
3. Eat healthily – especially vegetables and fruits.
4. Brush your teeth at least twice each day
5. Floss every day
6. Get regular dental cleanings.

2. Root planing and scaling – these are procedures that involve improving the oral hygiene in your oral cavity. Ideally, the goal of root planing and scaling is to remove plaque and tartar from your teeth, which are the main causative agents of gum infection.
3. Antibiotics for gum infection – a dentist near you will prescribe these medications, either topical or oral antibiotics. They work great for mild and moderate gum disease. They can either be antibiotic mouth rinses, tablets, or gels that you need to insert into the gum pockets in your mouth. The antibiotics will help deal with any mouth sores and curb the spread of the infection to other healthy parts of your oral cavity.
4. Gum grafting surgery – is a procedure that helps restore the health of your gum tissue. Once the infection spreads in different areas of your gums, it causes recession. To treat this, treatment involves taking grafts from other parts of your oral cavity to restore the damaged tissues in your gums. Sometimes a dentist will use synthetic tissues for this purpose.
5. Bone grafting surgery – similar to gum grafting, the dentist will use bone grafts to restore the health of your oral cavity. However, in this case, the focus is on the jawbone, where the bone tissues also degenerate as a consequence of advanced periodontal disease.
6. Flap surgery – is also known as pocket reduction surgery. The surgery focuses on reducing the size of the gum pockets that form when you have a gum infection. The periodontist in charge of your treatment will make tiny incisions on your gums to lift the gum tissue back to its original position, offering ample support to your teeth.