Can Teeth Recover From Gum Disease?

Gum disease can cause irreversible effects to the teeth if not detected early. It remains that the best way to recover before from dental disease is through early detection. So what is gum disease, and how can we recover from it?

Gum disease is a dental disease that affects the gums. It consists of two stages (Gingivitis and Periodontitis).

Gingivitis

Gingivitis is dull gum inflammation. At this stage, the gum disease is at its initial stage, and it is easier to treat. Gingivitis occurs when you don’t take good care of your dental health. If you don’t clean your teeth structure properly, plaque and harmful bacteria can accumulate. Over time, the bacteria can start to release toxic substances that affect your gums and other teeth parts.

The following are symptoms of gingivitis

• Bleeding gums
• Swollen and tender gums
• Bad breath or bad taste inside the mouth
• Constant sores inside the out

Unless gingivitis is left to develop into periodontitis, it can’t cause bone and tooth loss.

Periodontitis/ Advanced Periodontal Disease

Periodontitis is different from gingivitis. At this stage, the gum disease has become advanced and can result in tooth loss, bone loss, and other medical conditions if left untreated.

Receded gums cause tooth loss in periodontitis. The gum disease can damage the gums and make them shrink or recede. When this happens, the gums won’t stay firmly attached to the teeth, which causes tooth loss.

When brushing or flossing, the gums bleed because the gums are too tender due to the gum disease. The patient might also experience a severe toothache, pains when chewing, abscesses between the gums, weak teeth, bad breath, and receding gums which make gums look longer than they should.

Can You Reverse The Damage Caused By Gum Disease

Gingivitis is very treatable, and at this stage, there are no significant effects on the teeth. However, if the damages are from periodontitis, it is not likely reversible.

The damages caused by periodontitis are maximal. Although the patient can get treated for periodontitis, they might have to get dental restorations for the effects caused by the gum disease. In other words, if the periodontitis had caused tooth loss before it got attended to, you might have to get dental bridges or dental implants to restore the missing teeth or tooth. Most dentists might prefer that you get dental implants to cause bone stimulation, improving bone growth.

Gum Disease Treatment

You can get surgical or non-surgical treatments for periodontitis. You can visit a dentist or periodontist at Koren Family Dental for gum disease treatment.

Depending on the level of damages caused by the gum disease, your dentist will recommend the best type of periodontal treatment for you.

For non-surgical treatment, your dentist can decide to perform professional teeth cleaning or scaling and rooting procedures. Professional teeth cleaning involves the removal of plaques and tartar from the gum line and inside the gum pockets. This treatment works when the gum disease is not too active. Scaling and root planing involve periodontal cleaning and scrapping the rough smudges from the teeth surface to get the gums attached to the teeth again.

Surgical treatments, on the other hand, can involve

• Pocket Reduction Surgery/Flap Surgery: This treatment aims to lift the gums to remove the plaques. After the plaques are gone, the surgeon would place the gums back to fit in with the tooth. Since dental plaque is no longer intervening between gum and teeth, both structures can stay in close contact again.
• Bone Grafts: This will replace the bone that the gum disease has destroyed. The dentist can either use donated bone, synthetic bone or scrap some part of your bone to help your bones grow again.
• Soft Tissue Grafts will fill areas where the gums have shrunk or receded to add tissues to the damaged area.