Dentists Treat Periodontitis With Gum Grafting

Dentists treat periodontitis through gum grafting. Gum grafting is a resulting procedure used to treat periodontitis. This disease is a long time in the making, and in the early stages can be reversed; however, when each stage of gum disease is met without treatment or attempt at prevention, a graft may be the last attempt at allowing a patient to keep his/her teeth.

Everyone has plaque. It is inevitable. It is the blasé approach at oral health that turns plaque into a problem. This film can be removed successfully with twice daily brushing and flossing, but only a professional cleaning can remove tartar which is what untreated plaque turns into.

Tartar when left without profession dental intervention creeps up under the gum line and begins to cause the first stage of gum disease, gingivitis. Dentists can correct gingivitis. This primary stage of the disease can be reversed with correct intervention and a re-dedication to oral health, but once the disease has progressed into periodontitis, the disease not only become irreversible but it also becomes increasingly progressive.

At this point, a combination and the body’s attempt to fight the infection causes the gums to recede and eventually the bones that hold teeth in place to degenerate, and dentists begin to look at gum grafting to stop the progression of the disease.

This procedure has been referred to as oral plastic surgery, and it is strikingly similar the idea of the more commonly heard of skin grafting that is used to repair parts of the body that have been traumatized in accidents such as burns. Skin is a protective organ, and the use of a graft to replace skin is an attempt to protect what goes on underneath it, and it is therefore understandable why gum grafting is used.

As previously noted, due to uncontrolled infection, the gums will begin to recede exposing the elements underneath to the dangers of plaque, tartar, and eventually infection. In order to stop the progression of periodontitis, gum grafting is attempted. The doctor will find a donor site from the inside of the patient’s mouth; the skin adjacent to the damage is preferable but is often damaged as well, so skin from the either the hard or the soft palate is often used.

The damage that has already been done as the direct result of poor dental health cannot be reversed, but gum grafting is the best attempt at cessation of the progress. Health concerns such as diabetes, other blood sugar related diseases or nutrition deficiency diseases are considered periodontal contributory, and currently blood tests are beginning to be available at regular dental check-ups to screen for these diseases in a preventative effort.