Gingivitis: Causes, Treatment and Prevention
Dental hygiene plays a vital role in our lives. Good healthy teeth help us chew and digest food. If we do not take care of our dental hygiene, it affects our overall health. Good dental hygiene helps us in many ways. For example, we can easily talk with a bright smile with healthy teeth and gums. We can eat quickly, and they provide our face a shape, make us feel confident and much more. To enjoy good dental hygiene, visit your dentist.
Clean Smiles Dental offers you the best treatments and follow-up with a professional oral health care team. If you face gum diseases like gingivitis, you must visit our clinic. But before that, you should know the causes, symptoms, and treatment of this gum disease.
What is Gingivitis?
Gingivitis is a very common gum disease; in other words, it is inflammation of gums. Gingivitis is early stage or precursor of periodontitis (disease of supporting bone surrounding the teeth). If gingivitis is left unchecked and untreated, it can keep proceeding and after affecting the gums our supporting tissues become compromised. Gum diseases can easily be managed if identified at an early stage. If you feel any symptoms, you must consult your dentist as soon as possible. It is advisable to see your dental hygienist at very first sign of even the slightest bleeding around the gums. gingivitis is preventable, treatable and reversable oral condition. Early detection and treatment are crucial steps to prevent further damage to surrounding structure. It is important to maintain the integrity of healthy gum because they are our first line of defence against bacterial invasion.
Let’s find out what causes gingivitis.
Causes of Gingivitis
Gingivitis is mainly caused by plaque biofilm accumulation around teeth and soft tissues for extended periods of time due to bad oral/ dental hygiene. It is natural for dental plaque/ biofilm to develop around teeth naturally, but it is sticky in nature hence need to be removed mechanically to avoid the chronic negative effects caused by it. Gingivitis can affect anyone at any age, especially people with poor oral health. Lack of dental care causes poor dental hygiene, which in turn leads to harboring and increasing harmful bacteria in your mouth ultimately cause inflammation of gums.
If plaque and tartar stay on your teeth for a long time, irritation starts on your gums. Unfortunately, the gums swell up due to irritation and can also lead to bleeding. It can cause other gum diseases like tooth cavities or can cause tooth loss.
Let’s look at the symptoms of gingivitis.
Symptoms of Gingivitis
There is no relationship between gingivitis and age, gingivitis is inflammation of gums that can happen at any age.
- Red gums
- Swelling/ inflammation around gums
- Pain in gums while chewing
- Sensitive or tender gums
- Bleed in gums while brushing or flossing
- Halitosis (bad breath)
- Receding gumline
It is vital to improve oral home care and visit your dental hygienists for dental hygiene assessment and treatment. If you feel any of these symptoms, visit Clean Smiles Dental Hygiene Clinic. If cost of dental hygiene visit is one of your concerns due to no dental insurance, we have affordable treatment option available, with our Clean Smiles for Community Program at Clean Smiles Dental Hygiene Clinic. We have a team of professional, competent, and highly skilled dental hygienist and dentist that will provide you best possible solution for your dental concerns.
Ps. We follow Alberta fee guide and we can direct bill to most dental insurance companies for the convenience of our patients.
Treatment
The treatment can be determined after the oral assessment and periodontal exam. Hygienist performs periodontal therapy (dental cleaning). To have good out comes from this therapy, it is important that the condition can be detected as early as possible and patient follows through with the recommended intervals for professional care. The hygienist will advise you with the customized methods and products for you to use at home for optimum results.
During periodontal therapy, plaque (biofilm), calculus (tartar) and staining is removed by our highly skilled and professional dental hygienist. Our professional dental practitioner will go over homecare instructions and recommend customized products and techniques to use to maintain optimal oral health.
In some cases, gingivitis is aggravated due to faulty margins on exiting restorations or any old dental work or due to the presence of decay (cavities). In this case, our dental hygienist will recommend to have an exam with the Dentists and have those dental issues fixed. This will prevent further ongoing issues and our patients are able to maintain the integrity of heavy teeth and gums.
It is important to know that the treatment option is customized and is diagnosed after the preliminary exam. It is very important to seek professional help rather than trying to self diagnose, even worse to try on remedies that have no clinical studies and data supporting them.
Prevention
At clean smiles, we are huge on prevention. We strive to provide services that prevention based, which means we not only resolve the dental problem on hand but also make sure to provide ongoing support and resources to avoid further dental problems. Prevention is essential to avoid expensive and invasive treatments e.g., surgery of the gums. Below are the most effective methods to prevent gingivitis.
- Good home oral care along with professional dental hygiene visits are crucial for healthy gums and teeth.
- Brush your teeth at least two times a day with a soft manual toothbrush/ electric tooth brush
- It is highly recommended to use a toothpaste that contains fluoride.
- Avoid hard tooth brush and aggressive brushing.
- Clean your teeth and gums both gently but effectively.
- Daily flossing is as important along with brushing. Flossing is recommended once a day for healthy teeth.
- Use a mouth rinse once or twice a day as adjunctive therapy at home. Talk to your hygienist what is the fit for your dental needs.
- Avoiding food and plaque accumulation that can create inflammation or can cause cavities.
- Regular dental checkups and hygiene treatment by the dentist and dental hygienist are important.
- Minimize the use and frequency of spicy food that is high in carbohydrates.
- Drink a lot of water
- Eat fruits and vegetables that are rich in water and help to keep bacteria away from your mouth
Get treatment for Gingivitis at Clean Smiles Dental
From daily checkups for overall dental hygiene to surgery for severe gum disease, we have experienced experts on our team. We have amazing dentists and well trained and experienced dental hygienists who can help you maintain healthy gums and teeth. Get instant treatment for some gum disease and severe dental pain.
Our dental clinical team provides the customized and high-quality dental care services for you and your family. We use the latest equipment, tools and technology to provide dental treatment for our patients. We offer evening appointments, Saturday appointments, relax environment, private treatment rooms and amazing customer care. If this sounds like a dental clinic where you would like to obtain dental care for yourself and/or for your family, give us a call or request an appointment online.
