Have you been told you need a deep dental cleaning?
A deep dental cleaning is one of the easiest and fastest ways to make your mouth healthy again. Naturally occurring bacteria in your mouth can grow rapidly. If it gets out of control, you can develop gingivitis, or inflammation of the gums. Gingivitis can lead to gums starting to recede, and receding gums can lead to tooth sensitivity. Read more about teeth sensitivity in this article: Tooth Sensitivity: How Your World Golf Village Dentist Can Help.
Gingivitis can be painful, unsightly, and worse, can lead to periodontal disease. Periodontal disease is caused by a group of specific bacteria, called the red complex. Again, these bacteria naturally occur in the mouth, but if the number gets out of control, it can lead to the loss of bone and gums around the tooth. As this happens, the pocket, or space between your tooth and the gums, gets deeper and deeper. This allows more and more bacteria to grow. Losing the support of your teeth can cause pain, bad breath, bleeding of gums, heart disease, and tooth loss.
There are other risk factors that can lead to periodontal disease, including genetics, the foods we eat, teeth grinding, and alcohol or tobacco use. Read this article, Periodontal Disease: World Golf Village Dentist Treats Gum Disease, to help you learn more about these other risk factors. Because of these other risk factors, we may recommend a night guard in our attempts to treat your periodontal disease.
To treat periodontal disease, we typically recommend scaling and root planing, more commonly known as a deep cleaning. A traditional dental cleaning removes the bacteria and plaque above the gumline. However, the red complex is found below the gumline. When these aggressive and irritating bacteria get out of control, our dentists may recommend a deep cleaning in St. Augustine, Florida. A deep cleaning goes below the gum line and pulls out the bacteria and any hardened plaque call calculus.
Periodontal disease is essentially a giant bacterial infection in your mouth. In response, your body releases more protein, and this causes your immune system to be alert all the time. Studies have shown that the more inflammation our bodies perceive, the more susceptible they are to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. The longer you go between dental cleanings, the more bacteria grows, and the more likely you are to need a deep cleaning.
When was your last dental cleaning?
Call Elite Smiles Dentistry at 904-201-4304 to schedule your appointment today with our talented dentists, Dr. Steven Freeman and associates!
