Periodontal Treatment in Rehoboth Beach, DE
When it comes to good dental health, did you know that caring for your gums is just as important as caring for your teeth? A healthy smile starts with your teeth, but it goes much deeper—under your gum line and deep below the surface of your tooth crowns. When you think about your dental care, it’s helpful to consider your mouth as a whole and not focus solely on the visible parts of your smile.
Unfortunately, clean gums are an aspect of oral hygiene that we often overlook. Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, is alarmingly common in the United States. Roughly half of American adults over the age of 30 have some degree of gum disease, and many of these individuals are in the advanced stages of the condition.
If you’re living with gum disease, it’s not too late to get treatment and potentially reverse the effects. Rehoboth Beach Dental offers periodontal services to help prevent and treat mild to advanced periodontal disease. Our periodontists in Rehoboth Beach, DE can help! If you have or even suspect that you have gum disease, we urge you to schedule a dental appointment right away. The sooner we catch the condition, the better we can treat it. Call us today at (302) 226-7960!
- How does periodontal disease develop?
- Do I have gum disease?
- How can you treat my periodontal disease?
How does periodontal disease develop?
Periodontal disease can be tricky to spot because it initially develops slowly and quietly. Eventually, however, gum disease becomes obvious, uncomfortable, painful, and hard to ignore.
When bacteria and other debris gather on your teeth, the result is plaque. Regular brushing helps to eliminate most of this plaque, but over time, remaining plaque hardens into tartar, which is much harder to remove. 
Professional cleanings by dental hygienists remove the tartar that collects on your teeth and under the gumline. If you visit your dentist regularly for these professional teeth cleanings, your odds of developing gum disease are low. If you don’t visit the dentist often, however, the bacteria and tartar continue to build up and remain on your teeth. When this happens, the result is gum inflammation and, eventually, infection. This infection is periodontal disease.
Periodontal disease affects much more than your gums. The disease is linked to severe health conditions, including heart disease and diabetes. While most people typically don’t develop gum disease until they are in their 30s and 40s, it is possible to develop gum disease earlier, particularly if you have a strong family history of the disease or other risk factors like smoking. Certain medications may make you more susceptible to gum disease because they tend to dry out your mouth. Health conditions that weaken your immune system also contribute to the early development of periodontal disease.
Gum disease occurs in phases. Dentists categorize gum disease as one of three stages: gingivitis, periodontitis, and advanced periodontitis. The more advanced your gum disease becomes, the more difficult it is to treat. This is why regular dental cleanings are so important!
If you’re behind on your routine dental appointments, you can schedule a professional cleaning with us right away. Our team at Rehoboth Beach Dental will examine and evaluate your smile to determine if you have gum disease, how advanced your gum disease is, and how to best treat your gum disease in Rehoboth Beach, DE.
Do I have gum disease?
Because the early warning signs of gum disease are often subtle, many people are living with gum disease and don’t even know it. The best way to know for sure if you have gum disease is to ask your dentist in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Every time you visit the dentist and receive a thorough teeth cleaning and dental exam, you give your dental team another opportunity to evaluate your smile and check for signs of gum disease. Your dentist might be the first person to notice your periodontal disease symptoms, so it’s crucial to keep all your scheduled dental appointments and visit us at least twice each year.
Typically, the first warning sign of gum disease is bleeding when you brush and floss. If you consistently notice blood on your floss or in the sink when you spit out toothpaste, you should call us a Rehoboth Beach Dental right away to discuss your periodontal care.
Additionally, if you experience one or more of these symptoms, we would likewise encourage you to call us immediately so you can come in, and so Dr. Prestipino, Dr. Yarmoksy, or Dr. Sohonage can evaluate you for periodontal disease:
- Persistent bad breath
- Gums that are swollen, dark red, or painful
- Pain while chewing
- Sensitivity around the gum line
- Receding gums that cause your teeth to appear longer
- Loose teeth
Give our Rehoboth Beach dentists a call today at (302) 226-7960 to schedule your gum disease evaluation.
Gum Disease Treatment in Rehoboth Beach, DE
Preventing periodontal disease is always easier than treating it. Preventing periodontal disease can be as simple as brushing your teeth twice daily and flossing every evening, along with seeing us twice yearly for examinations and professional cleanings by one of our skilled and gentle dental hygienists. To give yourself the best chance at avoiding gum disease, stick to a healthy diet, and primarily drink water. Avoiding smoking is also essential when it comes to preventing periodontal disease.
Sometimes, unfortunately, these preventive periodontal care measures are not enough.
If you are developing periodontal disease, we will carefully evaluate the progression of your condition and work with you to create a plan that will meet your needs. Our evaluation will include a thorough examination and possibly digital radiography to see what is going on beneath your gum line. We also use a special dental ruler that allows us to measure any pockets that exist between your teeth and your gums. The measurement of these pockets gives us a good idea of the condition of your gums and allows us to track the progression (or reversal) of your gum disease.
If your gum disease is still in the very early stages of gingivitis, you may only need a thorough teeth cleaning from our dental and stronger oral hygiene habits at home.
Some of the treatment options available for periodontal disease include:
- Antimicrobial mouthwash
- Scaling and root planing
- Antibiotic treatments placed into the pockets of your gums during a scaling and planing treatment
- Oral antibiotics
In some cases of advanced periodontitis, we may need to perform surgery to treat your gums. In most situations, however, we can manage and reverse the disease before it progresses to the point of needing surgery.
Contact Our Rehoboth Beach Dental Office Today!
Gum disease is a severe problem that affects millions of people. If you are suffering from gum disease in Rehoboth Beach, you are not alone. The best thing you can do for your smile is to schedule a dental appointment at Rehoboth Beach Dental as soon as you possibly can. Every day that you ignore your gum disease is another day that the gum disease can damage your smile—and we want to give you every possible advantage in your fight against it.
Our dentists in Rehoboth Beach, DE can immediately treat all of our patients of record, and we are also accepting new patients at our dental office. Call us at (302) 226-7960 or schedule an appointment online when you’re ready to begin!
