Treating Gum Disease – Why It Is Important

Apex, Cary, and Raleigh, North Carolina

If you experience sore, swollen, and bleeding gums in Raleigh, then you may be suffering from periodontitis – commonly referred to as gum disease. This is a serious disease in which you have an infection in your mouth that can only be treated with professional dental treatments by your periodontist. To prevent gum disease from developing into advanced stages, here is treating the disease is essential:

Save Your Teeth

When you have advanced periodontitis, your teeth become loose, and your gums separate from your teeth – a process that will continue getting worse until you seek treatment. As the gums separate from your teeth, harmful bacteria accumulates around the roots of your teeth and under your gums. Eventually, this bacteria will erode the jawbone as well, which is another factor in causing tooth loss among patients with periodontitis. If you are experiencing periodontitis, your Raleigh periodontist can perform a scaling and root planing procedure to clean the bacteria and build up from around your teeth in efforts of saving them from extraction. However, if you are experiencing the early stages of gum disease known as gingivitis, then your teeth have likely not suffered irreversible damage, and an experienced periodontist can save your teeth with proper treatments.

Save Your Health

Many studies have linked gum disease with a host of health issues including an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. There has even been an association between the plaque found in the mouths of patients with gum disease and their cognitive decline, meaning a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Also, this oral disease has been known to cause premature births in pregnant mothers, as well as low-birth weight in newborns. You may not realize it, but your mouth has a significant impact on your overall health, which is why treatment as soon as possible is essential.

Save Your Confidence

One of the biggest effects of gum disease is bad breath known as halitosis. Bad breath can be a turn off to those around you, affecting your social life, love interests, and even your job prospects! Although you can use mouth rinses and breath mints or gum in attempts to freshen your breath, the underlying disease must be treated in order for the chronic halitosis to disappear. Also, many people with advanced stages of periodontitis suffer from embarrassment when they smile or may even avoid smiling. The reason for this is because periodontitis can leave you with missing teeth in which other teeth begin to drift out of place – resulting in crooked teeth. Also, gums begin to pull away from the teeth, which can make teeth look longer and disproportionate – that’s where the phrase “long in the tooth” came from.

Gum Disease Treatment in Raleigh

If you believe that you suffer from gum disease or have been diagnosed with it, do not delay your treatment. Be sure to practice a healthy regimen of oral hygiene as well as visit your periodontist regularly for professional dental cleanings and periodontal treatments as recommended.

To learn more about gum disease, its treatments or to schedule a consultation, contact Triangle Periodontics by calling 919-782-9536.

Triangle Periodontics welcomes patients of Apex, Cary, and Raleigh, North Carolina.