High River Non-Surgical Gum Therapy

Gum disease tends to slowly creep up on you over time, in many cases without you even realizing you have it! Once you realize there is a problem, it is best to seek treatment as soon as possible. Left untreated, gum disease can quickly lead to more significant issues, including infection and tooth loss. The best, and perhaps the only, way to catch gum disease in its earliest stage is to have routine dental check-ups. Highwood Dental is here to help you treat your gum disease for a healthy and beautiful smile.

Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, is an infection that damages the soft tissues surrounding the teeth. It typically results from poor oral hygiene, which allows plaque, a sticky film of bacteria, to build up on the teeth and harden. If you have red, swollen, tender or bleeding gums, especially while brushing, persistent bad breath or a bad taste, receding gums or loose or shifting teeth, it is time to call Highwood Dental for an examination.

If your dental check-up uncovers signs of gum disease, the Highwood Dental team will create a personalized treatment plan for you. We will first consider the severity of your case. For early-stage gum disease, a basic cleaning could be enough to fix the issue. For more advanced or severe cases, it may be necessary to consider more aggressive therapies that move beyond the surface of the teeth to below the gumline. For example, if there is a large amount of bacteria or plaque that is accumulated below the gumline, we may suggest specific medications administered at the disease site, or additional treatments like curettage or root planing.

Curettage is the name of the procedure that removes diseased soft tissue from around the tooth. By removing the diseased tissue, we are removing a source of chronic infection and irritation and allowing proper healing of the gums to occur. Root-planing is another gum disease treatment that involves removing and smoothing microscopic amounts of the tooth’s root surface. Once completed, you are left with a clean, bacteria-free surface that promotes optimal healing of the soft tissue surrounding it. We usually perform curettage and root planing at the same time, under local anesthesia to minimize any discomfort.

The Highwood Dental team does not just treat the problem; we tackle the root cause of the issue and ensure that you will have our support well into the future. To keep your teeth and gums healthy, our hygiene team will show you how to maintain optimum oral hygiene and give you clear directions to build dental habits you can maintain to keep your gums healthy in the long run.

If your gum disease has progressed well below the gum line, we may recommend a consultation with a periodontist who specializes in gum disease-related surgery. For especially aggressive cases of gum disease, surgery may offer the best prognosis that allows for the gum and bone to fully heal.