Gingivitis
 | |
These pictures were taken by a jordanian cosmetic dentist, Dr. Abdalrhman Abu Azza. |
Introduction:
Gingivitis (Gum Inflammation) is the most common disease of gum and it is a periodontal disease that makes your gum to be irritated, swollen red and inflammable. It's a serious disease and should be treated well and as soon as possible as it can lead to more serious gum disease called periodontitis and finally teeth loss.
The common causes of gum inflammation is poor oral hygiene. Good oral health habits, such as teeth brushing at least twice time per day, using dental floss one time before bedtime and getting regular checkups at dental clinic, can help in preventing and reversing of gum inflammation.
Symptoms:
Healthy gum is firm, pink in color and fitted well around the teeth. So signs and symptoms of gingivitis include:
- Gum swelling.
- Red to dark gum.
- Easy bleeding while flossing or teeth brushing.
- Bad odor of breath.
- Gum recession.
- Tenderness at the gum.
SO if you noticed these signs and symptoms, you should treat them as soon as possible by preserving an appointment with your dentist.
Causes:
The most common factor that causes gingival inflammation is inadequate oral hygiene that makes plaque to form on teeth, which causes inflammation of the surrounding gingival tissues. And this mechanism show how plaque can lead to gingival inflammation:
- Formation of plaque on the teeth. Plaque is existing at invisible, sticky film consists mainly of bacteria which forms on the teeth when starches and sugars in food interact with bacteria normally in the mouth. So plaque needs to be removed daily because it re-forms rapidly.
- Turning of the plaque into tartar. Plaque which exists on the teeth can become hard under your gingival line into calculus (Tartar) which collects bacteria. Calculus makes plaque more hard and there is difficulty in its removal, creating a protective barrier for bacteria and causes irritation at the side of gingival line. So you are in need of high quality from dental cleaning to remove calculus.
- Inflammation of gingiva (gingivitis). When the plaque and tartar stay on the teeth for long time, this will provide a great chance for gingival irritation which causes inflamed gingiva within time. Dental caries can occur at this time because of improper oral hygiene. And if this disease not treated, it will cause periodontitis and then teeth loss.
Risk factors:
· Improper care of mouth and Smoking or
chewing tobacco.
· Older age or restoration not fit well
which is difficult to clean.
· Dryness of mouth for long time and
inadequate nutrition including vitamin C deficiency.
· Decreased immunity, drugs such as
phenytoin, Hormonal changes such as those at pregnancy and some medical
condition as certain viral and fungal infections.
Complications:
- Untreated gingivitis can lead to gingival disease that spreads to underlying tissue and bone which means the periodontitis occurred, then tooth loss will occur.
- Chronicity of gingival inflammation has been thought to be related to some systemic diseases such as respiratory disease, diabetes, coronary artery disease, stroke and rheumatoid arthritis. Some research suggested that the bacteria which can cause periodontitis can enter the blood circulation through the gingival tissue, affecting your heart, lungs and other organs of the body.
- Trench mouth, also known as necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (NUG), is an extreme form from the gingival inflammation which causes pain, infection, gingival bleeding and ulcers. The most common occurrence of trench mouth todays is at developing than developed countries which have poor living condition and poor nutrition.
Prevention:
- Adequate oral hygiene. Which means teeth brushing at least for 2 minutes twice daily in the morning and before going to bed and flossing at least once daily. Flossing before brushing allows you to clean away the loosened food particles and bacteria.
- Regular dental checkups. Visit dentist or dental hygienist regularly to clean your teeth, usually every 6 to 12 months. If you have risk factors which can increase chance of periodontitis such as dryness of mouth, taking certain medications or heavy smoking you need professional cleaning more often. Annual dental X-rays will help to identify the diseases which are not seen by a visual examination and help in monitoring for changes in your dental health.
- Good health practices. Practices such as healthy diet and controlling your blood sugar if you are diabetic patient also are important to maintain gum health.
Diagnosis:
Dentist always diagnose gum inflammation based on:
- Review the medical and dental history of the patient and conditions that may contribute to your symptoms.
- Examination of teeth, gum, mouth and tongue for existence of plaque and inflammation.
- Pocket depth measurement: it is the groove between your gums and your teeth by entering a dental probe beside the tooth beneath the gum line, always at several sites throughout the mouth. In a healthy condition, the depth of pocket is always between 1 and 3mm. If the pocket depth is deeper than 4 mm, this indicate gum disease.
- Dental radiograph to check the bone loss in areas where your dentist sees deeper pockets.
- Other tests. If the cause of gum inflammation is not clear, the dentist may recommend that you get a medical evaluation to check for your health conditions. If your gum disease is progressed, the dentist will refer you to a specialist in gum diseases to check.
Treatment:
The treatment reverses symptoms of gum inflammation and
hinders its damage and progression into extremely serious gum disease and
teeth loss. So daily routine oral care will provide a great chance in success
of the treatment.
Professional care of gum inflammation includes:
- Professional dental cleaning. The first step is removing all plaque and tartar and this procedure called scaling and root planing . Scaling is a removal of tartar and bacteria from the teeth surfaces and beneath the gums. Root planning is a removal of bacterial products produced by inflammation, smoothening the root surfaces, inhibiting further buildup of calculus and bacteria, and allows adequate healing. This procedure may be done by manual instruments, a laser or an ultrasonic device.
- Dental restoration, if needed. Misalignment of teeth or poorly fitting crowns, bridges or other dental restorations will initiate gum irritation and make the plaque very hard to remove while daily dental care. So if the dental restoration is the cause of gum inflammation, your dentist will replace it with proper one.
- Continuing oral care. gum inflammation usually disappear after a professional cleaning — as long as you continue good oral hygiene at home. Your dentist will make you a plan for regular cleaning at home and checkups at dental clinic .After that you will note your gum color changes from diseased red or dark into healthy whitish pink.
Summary:
To summarize summarize, you can watch this video which taken from (Triangle Dental Reading) Youtube channel :