What Is Periodontology?

With Periodontology (Gum Diseases), you can easily treat the problems that occur in your gums and restore your gums to their former health.

With Periodontology, your gum diseases are diagnosed and treated.

How to Know If Your Gums Are Healthy

Your gums
If it has the appearance of orange peel and is light pink in color,
If you have a gingival margin that surrounds your teeth from the beginning of the roots and continues along the tooth lines,
You do not complain of redness, swelling or infection,
If bleeding does not occur with normal brushing and flossing,
If there is no pain in the gums after brushing,
If you have strong-looking gums that hold your teeth tight,
There is no problem with your gums.

Signs of Gum Disease

If your teeth bleed spontaneously or when you brush,
If the gums are red, swollen and have an irregular appearance,
If you have detected receding gums and exposed root surfaces,
If you feel pain in your gums from time to time, mild pain when pressing on the gums, pus oozing from the gums or sensitivity in the tooth in that area,
If you see black areas on the edges of the gums caused by calculus,
If you notice loose teeth, elongation and gaps between the teeth,
If you have an odor and bad taste in your mouth due to inflammation,
If you feel itching, tingling sensation in your gums,
It means your gums are unhealthy.

Causes of Gum Diseases

The main cause of gum disease is a sticky, transparent layer called bacterial plaque that covers the tooth surfaces. You can recognize plaque when you scrape your teeth. One milligram of bacterial plaque contains about 500 million bacteria. However, bacterial plaque is not the only cause of gum disease.

Smoking

Smoking, which invites many important diseases such as cancer, lung and heart diseases, is also a significant danger for our teeth. When analyzed in terms of gums, smoking damages the oral mucosa, causing the gums to soften and gum diseases to develop.

Medication

Birth control pills, anti-depressants, heart medications are among the medications that have a significant effect on your oral health. People who use these medications should be under frequent medical supervision for oral and dental health.

Hormonal Changes

During periods of intense hormonal changes such as pregnancy, puberty, menopause and menstruation, your gums become more sensitive. During such periods of hormonal changes, the gums should be kept more hygienic.

Stress

Stress, which has become one of the untreatable ailments of the age with growing cities and difficult lifestyles, also has a negative effect on oral and dental health. Avoiding stress, which causes the body to become easily infected, will be a positive approach not only for your teeth but also for your body.

Genetic Factors

The coding of a dental problem in a family’s genes can be genetically transmitted down the generations. In this case, even the slightest neglect of oral and dental care can lead to infection. For this reason, if there are family members who have had dental problems before, it would be right to visit the dentist more often.

Teeth Grinding and Clenching

Tooth clenching – Teeth grinding causes the bonding forces between the teeth and gums to weaken, causing damage to the periodontal tissue. One of the causes of gingival recession is clenching. This clenching must be stopped by wearing a night plate.

Diabetes (Sugar Disease)

Diabetic patients are in the high risk group in terms of periodontal (gum) infection. They should definitely have routine gum checks by a gum specialist (periodontologist). They should also be more sensitive to their oral hygiene than other people.

Poor Nutrition

Nutrition is an important factor for every organ of our body, apart from the health of teeth and gums. Our body, which is weakened as a result of unbalanced or improper nutrition, can also cause damage to the gums.

Faulty Dental Restorations

Poorly constructed crowns, bridges and fillings, fillings, crowns and bridges that press on the gums and are overflowing create problems in the gums.

Gum Disease Treatment

At the beginning of the gum disease treatment process, it is necessary to measure the depth of the pocket between the tooth and the gum. The diagnosis is made after the measurement process, taking into account the depth and amount of the pocket. Since deep pockets accelerate the progression of gum disease, the aim of the treatment is to shallow the deep pockets as much as possible. It is not possible to completely remove the microorganisms that settle in deep pockets by brushing or flossing.

Treatment Plan Based on Disease Level

Regular Tartar Cleaning (Scaling)

While general cleaning and checks for your oral and dental health are performed every six months, people with periodontal disease or prone to it should be cleaned in shorter periods in line with the instructions of the physician. The microorganisms in the plaque that settle in the pockets multiply over a period of three to four months and reach numbers that can damage the bone. Frequent tartar cleaning prevents this accumulation and prevents damage to the bone.

Root Surface Smoothing (Curettage)

Root surface flattening, popularly known as curettage, is the process of scraping the attachments attached to the root surface with the help of special curettes, removing them from the surface and exposing the healthy root surface, allowing the gum to adhere to the root surface again.

Gingivectomy and Gingivoplasty

It has been observed that drug-induced or hereditary gingival growths also occur. If these gingival growths are not accompanied by bone resorption or if there are no deep effects that require bone formation, we can remove the gingival growths by cutting the soft tissue wall between the tooth and the gum. This procedure is called Gingivectomy. After this procedure, Gingivoplasty is usually performed to restore the normal physiognomy by surgically correcting the gingiva.

Aesthetic Gingival Applications

Importance of Gum Aesthetics for a Healthy Smile

Gums are an essential element for a healthy smile. No matter how healthy your teeth are, if you don’t have a proper gum contour, it is difficult to give that impressive smile to those around you.

Treating Unhealthy Gums Before Aesthetic Procedures

Unhealthy gums: Before applying aesthetics to your gums, it is important that your gums are healthy. If the gums are red, swollen and shiny due to periodontal disease, the gum treatment process is applied first.

Excess Gum Visibility While Smiling (Gummy Smile)

Healthy Smile: In cases where the gums appear too much when they smile, a more pleasant smile can be obtained by removing the excess gums with a small operation, whether or not any aesthetic dentistry procedure will be performed.

Gum Recession and Exposed Root Surfaces

Gingival recession: Some teeth may appear very long as a result of gingival recession. In these teeth, the root surfaces are exposed. In such cases, gingival treatment should be performed first and these openings should be closed with soft tissue grafts.

Uneven Gingival Margins

Irregular gingival margins: The gums framing the teeth may be too high or too low in some teeth due to reasons such as gingival recession, eruption disorder and tooth loss. Gingival shapes should be optimized before aesthetic application.

FAQ: Gum Diseases