We’ve been told since we were little that we need to brush and floss our teeth every day.
Yet, the American Dental Association learned in a recent survey that 60 percent of Americans do not floss daily. That includes 20 percent of Americans who said that they never floss.
We’ve seen similar things with our patients at all three Beaumont Family Dentistry locations serving families in Lexington, KY and nearby communities.
Unfortunately, this could also help explain why gum disease is so widespread in our country and our part of the Bluegrass State. We don’t want anyone to have gum disease. It’s also why we encourage you to contact us right away if you have not yet scheduled your next dental cleaning and exam.
But we also know that (for now at least), most people will experience gum disease at least once in their lives. When that happens, we are prepared to help with some of the most advanced treatments for periodontal disease.
Prevention is the First & Best Option
Before we discuss the ways we could treat your gum disease, we need to discuss something else.
Preventive dental care is easily the best approach to fighting gum disease and tooth decay. By doing this, you also will be greatly reducing your risk of other problems — including tooth loss and general health problems.
In fact, gum disease is the leading cause of the tooth loss in the U.S. Furthermore, the bacteria that cause periodontal infections also can contribute to heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, and strokes.
We think you’ll agree that it’s in your best interest to stay as free from gum disease as you can. This is why you should be brushing twice daily, flossing every day, and making regular appointments with our dental team.
Professional cleanings along with your daily hygiene routine will greatly reduce your risk of developing advanced gum disease. This also gives us a chance to identify gum disease in the earliest stages, when treatments are simpler, more effective, and less expensive.
Treating Gum Disease
If you do develop gum disease, we want you to know that we are committed to providing the best and most advanced treatments.
Our preference is to use non-surgical treatments as much as possible. Our anesthetic and sedation options can keep you pain-free during your treatment.
This often starts with a procedure called scaling and root planing. If we see signs of gum disease, we may recommend this as a deep cleaning procedure. This is similar to a regular cleaning, only our dental professionals will be cleaning under your gumline. Scaling and root planing is how we remove tartar buildup on the roots of your teeth.
We also may recommend Arestin. This is an antibiotic that is placed directly below the gumline to kill any remaining bacteria and reduce the risk that your infection will return. If needed, we can prescribe more antibiotics as well.
In more advanced cases, we also may used laser treatments. This is just one example of the advanced techniques we use at our practice.
By using lasers, we can remove infected gum tissue without surgery or a scalpel. The laser essentially evaporates the infected parts of your gums. It also seals the healthy tissue to spend up your recovery time.
Fixing Your Gums
Even after the infection is removed, the effects of your gum disease may be visible through gum recession. In the late stages of gum disease, your gums may recede or pull away from your teeth.
Once upon a time, the only way to restore your gumline was through a surgical procedure called a gum graft. This is a kind of tissue transplant in which gum tissue is added to your gums. This required stitches to secure the new tissue in place as your mouth healed and the transplanted tissue grew together with the remaining healthy tissue.
We have a better option for fixing this problem — the Chao Pinhole® Technique.
Rather than cutting your gums open and adding new tissue, all we have to do is create a small opening the size of a pinhole. Once this is done, we can use special tools to gently push your healthy tissue to reform your gumline.
Because this is such a minimally invasive procedure, most people can return to their normal activities within two days of the procedure.
Our Ongoing Commitment to You!
Ever since Dr. Patricia Takacs started Beaumont Family Dentistry, we have been committed to providing the highest-quality dental care for all of our patients. We have made continuing education and ongoing priority for every member of our team.
We know that people are constantly developing new tools and techniques to make dentistry more efficient and more effective. It’s why we completed the training to offer laser dentistry and the Chao Pinhole Techniques.
We’ll also remain alert to future inventions and innovations that will improve the dental care we provide at Beaumont Family Dentistry.
Whether you are looking to prevent gum disease, to treat periodontal infections, or to take advantage of our many other services, you can trust that our team will be ready to help you.
Protect Your Gums & Your Smile
We want your mouth to be as healthy as it can be. For that reason, we want to encourage you to do what you should be doing to keep your mouth free from gum infections and periodontal disease.
At any Beaumont Family Dentistry office in Lexington, you will find high-quality preventive care and advanced non-surgical gum disease treatments. We want to help you with the never-ending fight against gum disease.
To make an appointment, call the location nearest to you:
- Beaumont Centre Circle: 859-223-2120
- Hamburg: 859-687-0975
- Leestown: 859-368-8260
You can request more information about us and our services. We hope to see you soon!