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When it comes to gum disease, early and comprehensive treatment is critical to keeping this condition from seriously impacting your oral and overall wellbeing. However, treating gum disease doesn’t stop immediately after you’ve left our Birmingham dental office. Without an effective maintenance strategy, reinfection remains a serious risk for patients in the recovery process.
At Pristine Periodontics, our mission isn’t just to treat your case of mild to severe gum disease – our goal is to help you learn the right skills for preventing and managing the condition for the rest of your life.
Why Treatment Isn’t Enough
There are a couple of factors that prevent patients from fully eliminating gum disease-causing bacteria from their smile. For starters, patients recovering from severe periodontitis often have enlarged periodontal pockets (gaps between teeth and gums). These become the perfect hiding place for bacteria and debris to collect and reinfect the vulnerable tissue below the gum line. While these can be shrunken through treatments like osseous surgery or LANAP, follow-up care is still required.
Lack of follow-up maintenance or supportive therapy can also contribute to reinfection. While all patients should pay close attention to their oral hygiene routines, patients recovering from varying stages of gum disease must pay special attention to their smiles to make sure debris and bacteria don’t become trapped in enlarged periodontal pockets.
How to I Prevent Reinfection?
The first step to preventing gum disease is to consistently engage in an effective oral hygiene plan. This includes brushing twice a day and flossing correctly. As plaque hardens into tartar within 72 hours, daily brushing and flossing plays an important role in disrupting plaque and bacteria accumulation. Flossing is especially important – 40% of the surface area of teeth lies between teeth. Neglecting to floss ultimately leaves these areas uncleaned and vulnerable to decay and disease.
For patients who’ve experienced moderate to severe gum disease, follow-up or supportive therapy is just as important as daily hygiene. This includes more frequent visits to the periodontist, typically every three to four months. During these appointments, our Birmingham specialist will conduct in-depth evaluations of your smile to monitor the condition of your gums as well as identify whether you’re experiencing flare-ups or showing signs of reinfection. This proactive approach is especially useful in helping Dr. Sayed tackle potential issues before they have the chance to further damage your smile.
Protect Your Smile from Gum Disease, Starting Today!
While there are countless effective treatment options for gum disease, the best way of protecting your smile from damage is preventing the condition in the first place. Whether you’re recovering from gum disease treatment or looking to take a proactive approach to periodontitis, our team at Pristine Periodontics is here to help you protect your smile. Call our dentist in Birmingham, MI today to learn the best methods of preventing gum disease.
