How can we prevent periodontal diseases

Often in our daily life we hear people around us talk about having problems with gingivitis, periodontitis, pyorrhea… But what is it? How can they be detected? And most importantly, do they have a solution?

Well, all these terms are included in a very important field of contemporary dentistry called periodontics. This specialty studies the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the gums and the bone that supports the teeth. Among these, the best known and most common are gingivitis and periodontitis (also called pyorrhea).

Periodontal Pathologies: gingivitis and periodontitis

Gingivitis is the inflammation that affects the gums and the tissues that protect the teeth; among its symptoms are swollen, red and shiny gums; generally sensitive to the touch and with bleeding (although this may not occur in certain patients, such as smokers, a fact that may delay its diagnosis).

On the other hand, periodontitis is the one that occurs when a patient has gingivitis and is not treated. This infection and inflammation affects from the gums (gingiva) to the ligaments and bone, which support the teeth.

In advanced stages, the loss of bone and gum makes the teeth look longer, loosen and eventually fall out.

Among the most common symptoms of periodontitis are bad breath, bleeding gums, red, very sensitive gums and, in severe cases, mobility of teeth.

Both gingivitis and periodontitis cause reddening and bleeding of the gums spontaneously and/or during brushing.

Causes of gingivitis and periodontitis

Within the triggering factors of gingivitis and periodontitis we have to understand that it is a multifactorial process in which genetics and smoking are two very important factors. In addition, the bad position of the teeth, the type of hygiene, type of saliva (thicker or fluid), the habit of clenching or grinding the teeth, shape or quantity and volume of the bone, as well as the gum and diet, are some of the factors to be taken into account.

Gingivitis and periodontitis treatments

Nowadays we can assure that both gingivitis and periodontitis have treatments of greater or lesser complexity. For the treatment, diagnosis and follow-up of both, intraoral radiographs and an analysis in which they are digitalized (and will be useful for future follow-ups) are taken.

Generally, in the treatment of gingivitis the objective is to reduce the inflammation of the gums and treat or reduce or eliminate some of the etiological factors. In addition, locally, a thorough oral hygiene is performed, and some appointments are given to the patient for prevention, where we teach them how to brush correctly and how to manage the use of interproximal brushes, floss, irrigators…

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Once this objective is achieved, we will try to correct other possible causes, so we have to understand that many times, and not for all patients equally, it is a multifactorial treatment.

In the case of periodontitis treatment, first of all dentists perform a probing of the gums to see the degree to which we are, and here digital dentistry comes into play. In the past, the probing was done with a metallic instrument that was introduced in 3 points of each tooth and gave us, according to the depth at which it entered, a number of millimeters, which served us to diagnose the degree of affectation.

Nowadays, the process is the same but digitalized. A probe is introduced which is connected to a computer where these values are recorded so that, in successive revisions, they can be compared.

As we mentioned, periodontitis has various degrees of affectation, depending on the loss of tissue, and therefore different ways of treating it. In cases of medium grade periodontitis, deep cleaning under anesthesia or scaling and smoothing are usually performed, where the inflamed gum is treated.

In cases of severe periodontitis, periodontal surgery is usually performed with prior anti-inflammatory treatment; in some cases, tissue grafts are even used. Likewise, these patients are given appointments for brushing and oral hygiene techniques, since there is no better treatment than prevention.

In both periodontal diagnoses, check-ups are carried out at very short intervals to see the evolution and re-evaluation of the patient and, if necessary, to review both the techniques and treatments (in addition to the rest of the treatments).

How digitalization helps us to take care of our health

Another point where digitalization helps us in the field of periodontics are the electric toothbrushes and irrigators.

Both have been on the market for years, but nowadays, due to the great demand, they have reached such levels that there are electric toothbrushes which through Bluetooth we can track our brushing on our mobile device: statistics of how well we have brushed, duration, schedules…

We also have electric toothbrushes that, through applications on mobile devices, tell us where we should brush better, reflect in which parts of our mouth we put less emphasis on hygiene, and if the duration of our brushing is correct. At the same time, accompanied by increasingly compact dental irrigators.

All of this in this 21st century helps us, hand in hand with digitalization, to take care of our mouth; in short, our health.