What are gum disease symptoms?

Gum disease in maple grove unfortunately is basically painless. If it caused more discomfort or even pain maybe 47% of American adults over the age of 30 wouldn’t have the disease today. Your symptoms will be visual in nature, so take a long look at your teeth and gums in the mirror and get to know your mouth better. We’ll identify what causes gum disease giving you a chance to correct some bad habits and then walk you through the changes in the symptoms as the disease advances in its level of severity.

What causes Gum Disease?

Even though in very few cases it can be related to your genes, or some oral medications, or even if you are a smoker, the single biggest contributor for gum disease is that of poor oral hygiene. If you just forget to brush your teeth that simple little oversight allows a sticky substance to immediately sit on your teeth. This substance is called plaque. At any given time a healthy mouth has one to two million bacteria present in the mouth. If you don’t brush that number can jump to 10 to 20 million bacteria. The bacteria cause cavities in your teeth and when it reaches your gums will create an infection.

Symptoms for the First Stage

Called gingivitis this first level will have your gums beginning to swell and start to turn a darker color of pink. Remember, look in the mirror and get to know your teeth and gums. Another symptom is you will have constant bad breath or a bad taste in your mouth. This stage of gum disease can be reversed easily by a periodontist with some deep cleaning, extending down the tooth and scaling the roots.

The next level is called periodontitis. Now your gums will begin to bleed, become tender to the touch and the tissue will start to pull away or sag away from the teeth. These gaps create pockets that easily trap food particles and accelerate the disease even faster. If allowed to get to this point damage will start to become permanent, such as bone loss on your roots. The periodontist continues with deliberate scaling of the roots and may now need to introduce some surgical efforts to plane the roots to remove the deep-seated plaque. A mouth guard may be introduced to help loose teeth heal as well.

Prevention of Gum Disease

The best way to get to know your mouth is to follow the strong suggestions of the health industry regarding proper care. They want you to brush your teeth twice a day for a least two minutes each time and then to also floss at least once. This simple little exercise will help you stay ahead of the plaque and help you prevent ever encountering gum disease. If you also develop the good habit of seeing your dentist twice a year for checkups these evaluations will monitor the health of your teeth and gums as well as sending you home with a professional cleaning and even a new tooth brush.

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