Your oral health is comprised of many factors, including your teeth, tongue, gums, cheeks, throat, and more. Indeed, any threat or complication that arises in any of these areas may lead to a negative impact on your overall health down the line, which is why it is imperative we take the necessary steps to stay on top of it. In other words, preventive dental care includes more than just the strength of your teeth, and sometimes, other areas such as the gums may be in worse shape without us even knowing before it is too late. In today’s blog, your Leawood, KS dentist explores the negative impact infected gums may have on your health, as well as ways you can prioritize their care.
Understanding the Threats
Just as your teeth can weaken and become infected by harmful oral bacteria, your gums face similar threats. In fact, these microorganisms tend to thrive in areas they are least likely to be caught, making the gum line, back molars, and in-between your structures the perfect places to camp out.
When you eat a snack or a meal, oftentimes some of the food particles become lodged between your teeth. For some instances, these particles can become loose and dislodge on their own, while other times they may require additional help. When this occurs, the oral bacteria lurking between structures become drawn to the sight immediately to feed. As this is happening, harmful acids are being secreted onto surrounding structures and hyperactive bacteria may begin to target further and further into the gums, eventually making their way below the surface to wreak havoc on your roots.
Steps to Take at Home
To ensure your smile is at its tip-top best, brushing and flossing at home can work wonders. In fact, these are two necessary steps in your overall preventive routine, and failing to practice either of these actions can lead to serious complications that arise down the line. For more information about this process, reach out to our team today.
How Else We Can Help
For some, an infection may have already set in and began to terrorize your roots and gums. When this occurs, you may even begin to experience symptoms such as swollen or bleeding gums, alarmingly loose structures, the separation between structures and the tissues that hold them, and even loss. Fortunately, our team is prepared to help with a specialized treatment known as a deep clean.
Also called scaling and root planing, a deep clean consists of several visits in which our team carefully cleans beneath the gum line and removes harmful plaque deposits that may have developed on your roots. After this step is complete, we will smooth the surfaces of your roots to make future bacterial attachment much more difficult.
Schedule Your Next Visit
To learn more about the importance of periodontal health and how our team can help, reach out to Dreem Dentistry in Leawood, KS by calling 913-681-5500 to schedule your next appointment with our team today.
