Severe Gum Disease is 6th Most Prevalent Condition in the World

Severe gum disease isn’t just an American problem, as a recently released review found it to be the sixth most prevalent health condition in the world. This particular study looked at data from 37 different countries, and found severe periodontitis affected 743 million people in the world. Globally, the prevalence of severe periodontitis was 11.2% between 1990 and 2010. However your risk does increase with age, and interestingly this disease is more prevalent in the third and fourth decades, with risks peeking around the age of the 38. This was the first ever global assessment of periodontal disease and it shows the challenges faced by every single one of us in keeping our teeth and gums healthy and free from disease.

Regular Preventative Dental Care Really Does Work in Reducing Your Risk

One of the reasons we like patients to visit us at regular intervals is to check for any signs of gum disease. This is a bacterial infection that can easily cause tooth loss if not promptly treated. It also has far more serious ramifications for general health, as severe gum disease or periodontal disease has been associated with many other general health conditions.

We take any signs of gum disease extremely seriously and can recommend suitable treatments to help clear up this condition as soon as possible, or which can manage more advanced gum disease that might not be completely curable. That’s right, we did say it might not be completely curable, as periodontal disease can become chronic which means you’ll need regular treatment to help control the condition rather than eradicate it completely.

Hopefully things will never get to this stage for you, especially if you have regular checkups at the Cosmetic Dentistry Center. Provided we catch this disease early enough, it’s usually very easily cured as most cases are caused by being a little bit lax over your oral hygiene and failing to remove the bacteria that build up each day on your teeth and gums.

The early stages of gum disease often cause the very few if any symptoms, and this is why regular professional dental care is so important. If you do have any signs, it’s likely to be that your gums bleed whenever you brush or floss or perhaps they feel a bit sore or tender or even look redder than normal.

Treating Early Gum Disease

At this stage, professional dental cleanings can help thoroughly remove all the bacteria from your teeth, giving your gums a chance to heal more easily. Sometimes a normal professional cleaning will be sufficient, but if the infection is more deep-seated, then we might need to deep clean your gums using a process called scaling and planing. This cleans your teeth in the same way as a normal professional cleaning, but takes things a step further cleaning right down to any tooth roots that have been exposed as the disease begins to destroy your gums, causing the gums to pull away from your teeth. With proper dental care at home, it is possible to reverse the earliest signs of gum disease completely. If the disease has progressed then we might want to see you every few months for continuing treatment, and to make sure the current treatment plan is proving effective.

In: General Periodontal Topics

Tags: