Periodontal Maintenance
Spokane, WA
 Every weekend, millions of Americans go through cleaning and maintaining their houses. Perhaps you are going to clean the garage this weekend. Maybe you are going to clean the baseboards in your house. Or, maybe you are going to bribe one of the kids into cleaning your bathrooms. Whatever the case for cleaning is, you know that in order to maintain the cleanliness and upkeep of your house, you have to do periodic maintenance. Your mouth is much the same as your house. You need to have regular maintenance on your mouth to keep it healthy, and that includes your gums. Periodontal maintenance is as important - if not more important - than regular dental examinations and dental cleanings. Give Dynamic Dental Care a minute of your time so we can tell you about periodontal maintenance.
The Three Kinds of Cleaning in Dentistry
We do three different kinds of cleaning for your mouth. You are already familiar with regular dental cleanings, which are also called prophylactic cleaning. When we clean your teeth this way, we are checking for plaque and tartar. We are also checking for any problems in your mouth while we polish your teeth as well.
However, if you have been diagnosed with gum disease, we may need to do a different cleaning. Gum disease begins because of bacteria. Bacteria are always present in your mouth. If you brush and floss your teeth on a regular basis, much of the bacteria are washed or brushed away. However, if you aren’t brushing and flossing right away, you may notice that your gums are red and inflamed. They may bleed when you brush them. If we catch it early, we can treat your gum disease at this stage, which is called stage one.
If your gum disease has moved into stage 2 and stage 3, we have to do deeper cleanings. While we can treat your gum disease, we can’t cure it. Part of the treatment of gum disease is two different kinds of deep cleaning.
Deeper Cleaning and Periodontal Maintenance
There are two different kinds of cleaning procedures we can perform on your gums. First, we need to do a deep cleaning of your gums to help treat the infection of gum disease caused by bacteria. It is called scaling and root planing. This is a very deep cleaning of your gums, which means we work to remove the deposits, plaque and tartar along and under your gumline. Periodontal cleaning helps prolong the life of your gums because gum disease - if left untreated - can lead to gum tissue loss and even lost teeth.
After we do the deep cleaning, we have to continue the cleaning on a regular basis if you have gum disease. That cleaning is called periodontal maintenance. You will need this kind of maintenance because gum disease leaves spaces between your teeth and gums. Those pockets of space can be filled with bacteria, as well as tartar and plaque. If we clean out those pockets, we can work together to keep your gums as healthy as possible. While these cleanings sound horrible, don’t worry. We will make sure that we manage your pain and anxiety effectively during periodontal maintenance. More importantly, we can help you keep your mouth healthy.
Do you have questions about periodontal maintenance? Why not give Dynamic Dental Care a call at (509) 466-2587 or request an appointment online. |
