If left untreated, periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, can have a devastating effect on your oral health. But it can also affect your heart and respiratory system. Gum disease can also cause complications if you live with diabetes. If you have noticed the signs of gum disease, call Sierra Oaks Dental to talk with our dentist about our periodontal treatments in Sacramento, California. To plan your visit with Dr. Peter Kim, call (916) 481-2000 today.
What Is Periodontics?
While many patients usually associate dentistry with their teeth, dentistry addresses other parts of the mouth as well. Periodontics is aimed at the gums and other related soft tissues of the mouth. Periodontic treatments are meant to prevent, diagnose, and treat any problems and diseases in the gum tissue. We provide periodontics at our office to keep your smile in good health and restore its good health if necessary.
While periodontics is perhaps mostly focused on periodontal disease and treatment, it also includes the careful placement of dental implants. Due to its advanced methodology and need for good installation in the gum tissue, dental implant placement requires advanced training and understanding of the periodontium.
Why Opt for Periodontics?
Gum disease, or periodontal disease, is severe inflammation and infection of the gums caused by bacterial and plaque build-up that has been present for too long. When bacteria and plaque are not brushed or flossed away adequately or quickly, they can irritate the gum tissue and cause bleeding or tenderness. When the disease reaches too far below the gumline, it may cause gum recession and possibly tooth or bone loss. Periodontics can prevent this advanced stage of gum disease or stop it from progressing too far.
Benefits of Periodontics
In its early stage, gum disease is called gingivitis and usually completely reversible with good oral care at home and regular dental visits. Its late stage, periodontitis, is more difficult to treat and requires more complex treatment that only a dental professional can provide. When you receive regular periodontal exams, we can prevent the spread of infection in your mouth and put a halt to periodontitis before it even begins. If periodontitis has already settled in your gums and teeth, we can provide treatment to keep the infection from worsening and save your teeth from extraction.
Process of Receiving Periodontics
During your appointment with us, we will check for signs of periodontitis and the extent of how far it has progressed. We do this by measuring the pocket depth in the gums around each tooth. A gum pocket depth of one to three millimeters is considered healthy, but we may advise you to brush and floss more carefully around pockets that are three millimeters. A pocket depth of four or more millimeters may indicate periodontitis.
If we detect periodontitis, we may recommend scaling and root planing, in which we remove plaque and clean the tooth roots.
Cost of Periodontics
The cost of your periodontal care will depend on the treatments being done for you and the extent of periodontal damage. We will go over these details with you so that you can make an informed decision.
Call our office today if you think you may need periodontal care. Our dentist and team can evaluate your gum health and get you back on track to a healthy smile!
