Nobody really wants to think about advanced gum disease treatments because they can be costly both economically and physically. Despite the relatively mild symptoms that accompany gum disease in the early phases (known as gingivitis), the condition can quickly degenerate causing a wide range of medical problems including increased risk for heart attack and stroke. If you happen to fail to cure gum disease prior to its spreading beyond the gingivitis stage, then you may be in need of periodontal surgery, including:
- Pocket Reduction
- Root Planing
- Regeneration
- Soft Tissue Graft
When gum disease prevention fails allowing the condition to spread beneath the gum line, pocket reduction surgery may be necessary. The pocket reduction procedure is a form of advanced gum disease treatment wherein the dentist (or perhaps periodontist) first holds back the gums and proceeds to eliminate the harmful microbes (anaerobic bacteria) responsible for the condition. Generally, painful scraping will be required to eliminate the ossification (tartar) on the tooth or root once the bacteria population has been destroyed.
Should the dentist find that the root is damaged and uneven, further treatment for gum disease will be required and this is where it can get very painful. Should this gum disease treatment option be necessary, then the dentist will have to plane and remove some of the root in order to smooth it back out (the above the gum line will not reattach to uneven or rough surfaces).
In cases where the root and supporting bone structure have been too severely damaged for the pocket reduction procedure, the advanced gum disease treatment option of regeneration may be required. In regeneration, the basic idea is to regenerate damaged bone and supporting gingival tissue that have been dissolved by the advancing gum disease. During this delicate gum disease treatment procedure, the periodontist will perform a bone graft first and then follow it up with treatments of tissue-stimulating proteins. If this gum treatment procedure works, then the gingival tissue will reattach to the supporting bone structure and everything should be fine.
Another advanced gum disease treatment procedure is the soft tissue graft. This radical gum disease cure is required should the degenerative process proceed to the point that the root is exposed due to gum tissue loss. During a soft tissue graft, tissue is removed from other parts of the mouth such as the palate and then grafted over the exposed root after the anaerobic bacteria populations has been neutralized.
Learning how to prevent gum disease prior to its spreading below the gum line is critical if you want to avoid any of the surgical procedures listed above. Simply brushing and flossing every day to remove plaque is the first and most important step towards maintaining good, healthy gums. Some people like to use mouth wash and it is a great product for eliminating harmful bacteria from the oral cavity. However, be sure to use a mouth wash made with all natural products because any gum disease treatments or preventative measures that cause dehydration (like the alcohol found in mouth wash) can actually make the problem worse and cause harmful bacteria to breed faster in your mouth.
For an all natural product that helps stimulate salivation as well as help kill the harmful anaerobic bacteria inside your mouth, try OraMD®. OraMD® is an all-natural gum disease product made from the essential oils of almond, spearmint, and peppermint. OraMD® offers a long-term solution for gum disease and other periodontal problems by cleaning the mouth and killing the bacteria that cause volatile sulfur compounds, or VSC’s.
