Persons with gum disease can still reverse their dental condition through personal and professional dental care. The methods of reversing gum disease depend on the stage of bacterial infection in the gums.
- Swollen or puffy gums.
- Bright red, dusky red or purplish gums.
- Gums that feel tender when touched.
- Gums that bleed easily.
- Pink-tinged toothbrush after brushing.
- Spitting out blood when brushing or flossing your teeth.
- Bad breath.
- Pus between your teeth and gums.
The first degree of gum disease is gingivitis. To treat this, dentists usually prescribe antibiotic tablets or a topical antibiotic to stop the infection. There are also specially formulated mouth rinses and toothpastes that help in reversing gum disease at this early stage.
Vigorous oral hygiene on a daily basis helps greatly in reversing gum disease.
Here are some suggestions to better dental health:
1. Clean your teeth thoroughly by spending at least 2 minutes brushing your teeth, twice or thrice a day.
2. Make it a habit to rinse your mouth with water after every meal.
3. Floss once a day. Flossing removes food particles stuck between teeth and cleans areas in the mouth that toothbrushes cannot reach.
4. If you have wide gaps between teeth or you are wearing braces or dental bridges, an interdental brush is a great alternative to flossing to remove plaque effectively from hard-to-reach surfaces.
5. You can also combine flossing with the use of an oral irrigator, which flushes out food remains from cracks, gaps and crevices in your teeth.
6. Rinse with mouthwashes or oral rinses daily. These products help kill bacteria lodged beneath the gums and aid in reversing gum disease.
If gum disease is in severe condition, professional dental cleaning is necessary and this involves scaling and root planing. These procedures stop bacterial infection on its track by eliminating the bacteria that resides below the gum line and in deep pockets around the teeth.
Your dentist may also polish your teeth’s surface to make it less receptive to plaque. In some serious cases, reversing gum disease requires that the patient undergo a surgical procedure called flap surgery or periodontal surgery. This is the method of lifting or pulling back gum flaps away from the teeth to allow thorough cleaning of the infected area, and then suturing the flaps back into its position.
Early diagnosis is the key to reversing gum disease. The moment you notice any change in your gums or in your mouth, get a dental checkup. Some of the symptoms of gum disease are red or swollen gums, gums that bleed easily when brushing, persistent bad breath and sores. It will do you good to visit your dentist regularly at least twice a year.
By detecting the problem soon enough, you will have greater chances of undoing the damage of gum disease.
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