What Are The Symptoms Of Periodontal Disease?
Many dental problems are related to issues with the teeth. However, when your gum tissue is compromised, it is equally an alarming dental problem. Many people do not regard gum disease as a major oral problem until they get to learn how advanced the disease can get.
Periodontal disease has been the cause of many dental issues for patients, especially those that wait until things get worse before they can seek treatment. Learning about how the disease happens and how you can detect it can help your manage your oral health.
What Is Periodontal Disease?
It is a dental problem featuring the infection of the gum tissue, as well as the bone tissue. It is commonly referred to as gum disease, even though it does not only affect the gum tissue.
This disease manifests differently on patients. Before you seek periodontics treatment learning more about your problem can be a great point to start.
How Does Gum Disease Occur?
The infection of your gum tissue mostly occurs when plaque builds up on your teeth. Plaque is a sticky substance that forms on the surfaces of teeth, as a product of food residues bacteria, acids, and saliva. This sticky substance initiates infection in your gum tissue. The longer you have plaque in your mouth, the more the infection spreads throughout your gum tissue.
Initially, the infection will only affect parts of your gum tissue. This is the initial stage of the infection, known as gingivitis. The symptoms are minor, and the treatment is quick and easy. However, with time, the infection damages your gum tissue further, even getting to the bine tissue underneath. This is the stage referred to as periodontitis. At this stage, you stand to lose so much, with some of the consequences being permanent.
Symptoms Of Gum Disease
A periodontist in Satsuma AL is best placed at diagnosing the infection in your mouth. However, before you reach out to a dental expert, you must have a clue about what is going on in your mouth. Some of the symptoms you should report to a Satsuma family dentist during your appointment include the following:
- Swollen gums – puffiness in your gums is an indicator that something is wrong. Keep tabs on the swelling, to notice whether it subsides after a day or two, or whether it spreads even further.
- Tender and painful gums – does chewing cause you discomfort? If your teeth are not problematic, then this has to do with your gums. When there is an infection, the gum tissue is tender, which makes it painful when you chew.
- Bleeding gums – any effort to brush your teeth or bite hard foods can result in bleeding if your gums have an infection. Besides, since the gums are tender, they scrape easily.
- Bad breath – bad mouth odor is sometimes a consequence of gum disease. Consider this to be true is you have tried to get rid of the bad breath without success. The infection, coupled with plaque in your mouth, are to blame for the bad smell.
- Mouth sores – common canker sores come and disappear after a couple of days. However, when you have gum disease, the sores do not heal quickly. If anything, they keep reoccurring. They can make it very uncomfortable for you to eat properly, because of the pain they cause.
- Pus between your teeth and gums – since this is the pressure point because your gums and teeth intersect, the infection can cause pus to come out of your gum tissue, around your teeth.
- Receded gums – when the gum tissue is infected, it pulls away from the teeth. The recession features reddish and swollen gums that keep drawing further from teeth. You are likely to notice the difference when you begin to see more of your tooth structure exposed when you smile.
- Spaces between your teeth – when the gums continue to recede, teeth lose part of their support. For this reason, they easily shift, leaving spaces in between your teeth.
- Loose teeth – if it gets to this, then your gum infection has advanced to a severe level. Loose teeth mean that both the gum and bone tissues have been compromised. This is why the stability of your teeth is shaken. If you are not careful, you could lose more than one of your teeth to gum disease when it reaches this level.