September is National Gum Care Month, and we’re excited to share some tips to keep your smile healthy and strong. Most people think of tooth loss as a result of tooth decay, but did you know that losing teeth is often a result of gum disease? Brushing and flossing daily as well as regularly seeing your dentist can stop cavities and gum disease in their tracks.

What Gum Disease Looks Like

The early phase of gum disease is called gingivitis, and it happens when your gums have a bacterial infection, leaving gums red and bleeding. Unless your dentist catches it early and addresses the problem, this harmful bacterial infection will continue to worsen until it turns into periodontitis (incidentally, the main cause of tooth loss), as the gums can no longer hold the teeth in place. If you notice any signs of problems with your gums, it’s time to visit our dentist for an intervention! Need more convincing? Take a look at the stages of gum disease to see where your smile could be.

Gum Disease Phases

-Gingivitis: In this phase, you’ll notice bleeding and occasionally inflammation and discomfort in your gums along with a buildup of plaque and tartar. Gingivitis can be reversed by scaling and root planing, followed by routine at-home oral hygiene care, and a healthy diet that supports gum health (foods rich in vitamin C, vitamin B12, and omega-3 fatty acids). Eat plenty of citrus fruits, berries, and leafy greens for vitamin C. Consume milk, eggs, meat, and certain breads, pastas, and cereals fortified with B12. You can add flaxseed oil and fish to get enough omega-3 fatty acids.

-Mild-to-moderate periodontitis: This phase of gum disease stems from untreated gingivitis. It allows periodontal pockets to develop around the tooth, causing vital bone and tissue to diminish. You will see chronic bleeding and pain around the teeth along with gum recession, and the infected areas can cause an inflammatory response throughout your body.

-Severe periodontitis: This is the phase of gum disease you want to avoid at all costs as it is the most advanced. It manifests as extensive bone and tissue loss where teeth will loosen and need replacing.

Poor gum health doesn’t just affect your oral health; it also affects your looks and, consequently, your self-esteem and self-confidence as it causes you to look older than you are. But also keeping teeth healthy is less costly than replacing those lost teeth. And as we already mentioned, gum disease affects your overall health by causing systemic inflammatory conditions, like heart disease, diabetes, and even autoimmune problems.

Caring for Your Gums

Healthy gums come from maintaining healthy dental hygiene habits like brushing (at least twice a day) and flossing daily to get rid of harmful plaque and prevent the formation of tartar. When flossing, don’t force the floss down hard on your gums. Instead, gently pass the floss down your teeth and swipe the side of each tooth down the gums to lift plaque, bits of food, and stray bacteria. When cleaning your mouth, remember to brush your tongue, too, because bacteria love to gather there. Drink lots of water to flush away bacteria and bits of food particles and replenish your saliva production to protect your teeth and gums.

Dental Checkup

Following a healthy diet that supports gum health will also go a long way to improving your smile. If you have gone a long time without good dental care, you may need multiple visits to get your gum disease under control, so don’t delay, call today! Since this is National Gum Care Month, why not schedule your next visit?

A healthy, appealing smile starts with a clean mouth. October is National Dental Hygiene Month, where we honor our hard-working, dedicated dental hygienists and the care they provide to protect your smile! Their goal is simple: helping you achieve greater oral health by helping you keep away cavities and gum disease.

A Dental Hygienist’s Typical Day

A typical day in the life of a dental hygienist may involve any of the following:

Perform dental cleanings: When you come in for your routine dental cleaning, we will clear away harmful dental plaque containing bacterial toxins, including tartar (hardened plaque). If you are having a deep cleaning done, we will smooth the rough areas on your root surfaces to prevent plaque and tartar formation under the gum line. A deep cleaning helps affected gums to heal and will also check for sores, lumps, or swelling in your oral tissue.

Take dental X-rays: We may use X-rays of your teeth, bones, and soft tissues to spot potential dental issues like tooth decay and bone loss. For growing teens, these X-rays can track their jaw and tooth formation to also spot problems early. If you come in experiencing pain, these radiographs can help us see if wisdom teeth might be the issue.

Take dental impressions: We can create impressions of your teeth as models (casts) for our dentist to asses what dental treatments you might need for optimal oral health.

National Dental Hygiene Month

Get Ready for a Fang-tastic National Dental Hygiene Month this October with Tips from Our Amazing Dental Hygienists at Truxtun Family Dentistry in Bakersfield, CA!

Beyond their role in providing teeth cleaning and dazzling smiles, our dental hygienists are an integral part of your dental team, diligently monitoring your oral health for early problem detection. Wondering how to make the most of National Dental Hygiene Month? We’ve got you covered with a range of ideas to keep your smile on the right track!

1. Floss daily. Not just once in a while and especially not just when you have your next dental visit (you know we can tell if you are not flossing regularly)! Flossing is important because it cleans the parts of your teeth that your toothbrush can’t, namely, between teeth and below the gum line. You would never just brush your teeth before a visit to our team, so don’t do that with flossing either! Your teeth, gums, and pocketbook may pay the price.
2. Brush long enough. Two solid minutes of brushing per session are ideal, not too much, not too little, a strategy Goldilocks would approve of! A clean mouth means brighter teeth, healthier gums, and better breath!
3. Don’t skip an oral rinse. Rinsing with an ADA-approved antibacterial mouthwash is a great way to wash away lingering oral bacteria that are destructive to your smile while freshening your breath.

Practice Proper Brushing

One of the things our hygienist can do for you is to help you brush up on your brushing proficiency. First, you want to aim the soft-bristled toothbrush at a 45-degree angle to clean the most effectively. Move the brush gently back and forth in short, tooth-wide strokes. Clean all tooth surfaces: top, bottom, inside, and outside surfaces. Your flossing tool will brush away food particles and plaque between the teeth and the gum line. Finally, complete your brushing session with a gentle cleaning of your tongue, where bacteria like to collect.

Treat Your Smile Every Day

If you want to recreate the amazing feeling of smooth teeth at home, brush your teeth twice a day following these tips (your “fangs” will thank you). While our hygienists can give you a fresh start during your regular cleanings, the best way to treat your toothy grin is to clean your teeth and gums every day, twice a day. Trust us, you’ll notice the difference at your next dental cleaning, and so will we!

November isn’t just Thanksgiving: It’s also National Diabetes Month. This disease affects around 37 million Americans, including adults and young people. Oral health is closely linked to health issues, including diabetes, and vice versa. Along with your primary care doctor and other specialists, your healthcare team should also include your dentist!    

People with diabetes are more prone to cavities and infections of the gums and bones which keep your teeth in place, as diabetes lowers the blood supply to those areas. If you are a diabetic over age 50, your risk will be even greater, mainly because aging alone increases dental problems if you are not taking good care of your smile. If you notice sore or bleeding gums, constantly get infections, and have chronic bad breath, you may have diabetes and dental issues that need treatment.     

Common Oral Conditions in Diabetics    

• Dry Mouth: Age isn’t the only factor that causes dry mouth: Diabetes does too. Women in particular are vulnerable to lower saliva levels, which lead to dry mouth (or Xerostomia). Healthy saliva levels secrete enzymes that attack harmful oral bacteria.  
• Gingivitis: This early stage of gum disease arises as oral bacteria make your gums bleed, redden and feel sore. This bacteria thrives on sugar, creating oral acids that damage your teeth. If you have unmanaged diabetes, your saliva will contain more sugar that will mix with saliva and bits of stray food particles, turning into plaque.  
• Periodontitis: If you leave gingivitis unchecked, it will eventually worsen, ending up as periodontitis, a severe version of gum disease wearing down bone density and oral tissues that hold your teeth in place. Unless you brush and floss diligently, gum pockets will form, a condition where your gums pull away from your teeth. Unlike gingivitis, periodontitis cannot be reversed, only managed.   
• Oral infections: Fungal yeast infections, referred to as “thrush”, often show up as white or red patches in the mouth for people with diabetes. Yeast feeds off of excess sugar in your saliva and shows up more in people who wear loose-fitting dentures and smoke.  
• Wounds taking longer to heal: This is common in people as they age, as well as in diabetics. It also increases your risk of infection. This is bad news if you have gum or tooth issues, as healing takes longer. 

Protecting Teeth and Gums in Diabetics    

Understanding the link between oral health and diabetes will hopefully help you work to prevent problems from developing, to begin with. As with most things, an ounce of prevention is so much easier than a pound of cure!     

Tips To Keep Your Mouth Healthier    

• Manage your blood sugar as recommended by your doctor with diet and exercise.  
• Practice good daily oral hygiene care, which includes using a soft-bristled toothbrush, flossing twice a day, and rinsing with an antibacterial mouthwash.  
• Protect the enamel on your teeth by waiting half an hour before brushing to dilute oral acids. 
• Remove and clean your dentures every night; no sleeping in them! 
• If you still smoke, now is the time to stop.
• Come in for regular professional dental cleanings every six months or as recommended. 

Healthy Body, Healthy Mouth    

The good news is that diabetes-friendly foods are also tooth-friendly, so it’s a win-win. Feel free to consume the following dietary choices. Your doctor and dentist will likely approve!    

• Avocados  
• Almonds  
• Beans and other legumes  
• Berries  
• Broccoli  
• Cabbage and Brussels sprouts
• Cottage cheese
• Eggs 
• Fish 
• Kiwis
• Nonfat yogurt
• Non-starchy vegetables
• Nuts
• Oatmeal
• Shrimp 
• Spinach
• Wild salmon 

This Thanksgiving, we hope to give you something extra to be thankful for with these timely tips. If you have diabetes, we hope this helps you maintain better oral health as simply and effectively as possible. We welcome you to give us a call today if you would like to schedule your next dental visit or speak with our dental team! 

March is a busy month in the dental community. With National Dentist’s Day on March 6 and Dental Assistants Recognition Week from March 5th to March 11th, we would like to give a huge shoutout to our team and thank them for all their hard work every day! Our dental family loves helping your family’s smiles thrive, and it gives us great joy to be part of your ongoing dental experience.

National Dentist’s Day

Dentists provide the expertise needed to prevent, diagnose and treat oral diseases. They observe the growth of your teeth and jaws and perform surgical treatments like tooth extractions and root canals to keep your mouth and body as healthy as possible. This also means you can smile with confidence!

Dental Assistants Recognition Week

Just like dentists, our dental assistants also keep your smile and body healthier. Recognized by the American Dental Assistants Association, dental assistants are considered multi-talented members of any dental team for providing essential supportive dental care:

• Comforting and listening to our patients
• Providing an extra set of eyes, ears, and hands where needed
• Keeping everything running smoothly
• Supporting the rest of our dental team
• Performing infection control tasks

Our dental team depends on the work of our dentist and assistants so you get the high-quality dental care you and your family need.

National Nutrition Month

March is also National Nutrition Month, and eating better helps you create and maintain healthy teeth and gums for a healthier mouth and body. Did you know calcium, some fatty acids, vitamins C and D, and proteins can help your jaw and teeth function better? Protein fixes tissue and builds bone so you have a healthier bone density. Getting enough protein by eating healthy, whole foods with vital nutrients for optimal oral health can help keep your smile strong.

Build Better Oral Health With Your Food

Eating foods that are good for your teeth is also typically good for your whole body. Think calcium-rich low-fat cheese, fat-free or low-fat milk, plain yogurt, and leafy greens. High-protein foods like eggs, fish, meat, and poultry actually protect tooth enamel while boosting bone density. Then there are high water content and fibrous foods like fruits and vegetables that increase saliva production, which effectively rinses away food particles, neutralize acids, and prevents tooth decay.

Fun Fact: Tooth Enamel is one of the strongest and hardest materials in your body! But it can also be weakened, eroded, or destroyed by oral acids and sugars from the foods and beverages you consume. Anything you can do to protect tooth enamel with the foods and drinks you ingest can make a huge difference in your health.

Food and Beverage Tips:

• Drink green or black teas to neutralize bad oral bacteria.
• Chew sugar-free gum to boost saliva levels.
• Eat high-fiber fruits and veggies.
• Protect enamel with tooth-strengthening foods or drinks (grapes, apples, strawberries, bananas, peaches, watermelon, cherries, spinach, potatoes, shrimp, crab legs, black tea, and coffee).
• Consume vitamin C and other antioxidants (grapefruit, oranges, strawberries, cranberries, kiwis, and apples).
• Eggs, lean meat, nuts, beans, green leafy vegetables, carrots, and fish are all good choices as well.

Tend to Your Smile

We hope you enjoy March by focusing on your oral health goals. No matter the dental care (whether you need a routine dental cleaning and exam, better oral hygiene care tips, or cosmetic or dental restoration), our dentist, dental assistants, and our staff are here for you and ready to support your smile! Give us a call today!

April is Oral Cancer Awareness Month, and it is the perfect time to bring attention to the dangers of oral cancer and the importance of having routine cancer screenings done. Oral cancer can get in the mouth, throat, tongue, or lips, and if left undetected, it can be life-threatening. The Oral Cancer Foundation asserts that around 54,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with oral cancer this year alone, with around 10,000 of them likely dying from this terrible disease.

Oral Cancer Screening

According to the American Cancer Society, people who are considered to be at average risk for oral cancer should undergo a cancer screening every three years, starting at age 20. However, people who use tobacco or alcohol or who have a history of oral cancer in their family may need to be screened more frequently. Additionally, those with HPV-related risk factors may benefit from an HPV-related cancer screening, which can be done through a simple mouthwash test.

When you come in for your cancer screening, our dentist will begin by evaluating your mouth and throat for the telltale signs of cancer. This includes looking for any red or white patches, sores, or lumps in the mouth. Should something suspicious be found, a biopsy may be done to confirm or rule out cancer.

Many people are not aware of the importance of cancer screenings or may put them off due to fear or discomfort. However, rest assured that cancer screenings are quick and painless while saving lives. By detecting oral cancer early, our dentist can help you receive prompt treatment to improve your chances of survival.

Oral Cancer Signs and Symptoms

It’s also important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of oral cancer, which can include:

• A sore throat that persists for longer than two weeks
• A lump or thickening in your cheek or throat
• Problems when you swallow or chew
• A white or red patch on the tongue or gums
• Noticeable unexplained bleeding in the mouth
• Numbness or pain in the mouth or lips

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it’s important to schedule an appointment with our dental team as soon as possible for screening.

Oral Cancer Prevention

• Avoiding tobacco use, including cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco
• Limiting alcohol consumption
• Maintaining proper oral hygiene habits like brushing twice a day and flossing daily
• Using lip balm with sunscreen to protect your lips from sun damage

As you can see, Oral Cancer Awareness Month is an essential reminder of the dangers of oral cancer and the importance of regular cancer screenings. Protect your oral and general health and well-being by watching out for the signs and symptoms of oral cancer and then staying on top of the steps outlined above to reduce your risk of developing this serious disease.

Schedule Your Dental Checkup!

Our caring dental team urges you not to put off your cancer screenings as they could very well save your life. We invite you to give us a call today to schedule your dental checkup and oral cancer screening. Your smile will thank you!

Do you put off routine dental care or much-needed dental work because of anxiety? Anxiety is how your body reacts to what you perceive to be stressful or unfamiliar situations. So that sense of distress or dread you have before an event manifests itself as anxiety. While a bit of anxiety can be useful, keeping us alert and aware in certain situations, it can also be debilitating when you are in need of dental care and delaying treatment.

Routine dental appointments allow us to help you keep your teeth and gums healthy, and avoiding this treatment can cause small problems to deteriorate your oral health, leaving you with bigger problems to deal with later.

Signs of Dental Anxiety

• Aggressive behavior
• Crying
• Extreme sweating
• Feeling faint
• Heart palpitations
• Low blood pressure
• Panic attacks

Dental anxiety is hard to ignore, so it’s important to recognize and address it. While dental anxiety impacts around 36 percent of the population, we can work together to make your dental visit comfortable and pleasant so you get the care you need!

Working Together

1. Schedule your visit in the morning as it tends to be the least busy time in the office. Fewer patients being treated mean less noise in the background and spending less time stressing over your upcoming appointment time.
2. Communicate with our dental team in advance about your dental anxiety. We can make your visit easier, whether by explaining what you can expect during your treatment or discussing dental sedation.
3. Bring a friend or family member with you to support and distract you and elevate your mood. They can even drive you home afterward so you can decompress and bask in the aftermath of completing a successful dental visit!
4. Relax when you get here by using noise-canceling headphones (or earbuds) to block out unnecessary stimulation. Listening to music, your favorite podcast or a meditation app can also destress you while you are here.
5. Speaking of a meditation app, listen to your favorite calming meditation while you wait in the dental chair. Beginning with your head, relax your muscles, one body part at a time, slowly moving down your body until you reach your feet.
6. Do some slow, deep breathing. Those calming breaths help ease your mind, so you feel more relaxed. Block out external stimulation by closing your eyes, then breathing in slowly through your nose, holding, and slowly breathing out through your mouth. Repeat until you feel the difference.
7. Practice some guided imagery. It is a good time to picture happy thoughts as you lie back in the dentist’s chair. Enjoy your favorite or funniest memories. Reminiscing about those wonderful moments feels like you’re reliving those moments all over again!
8. Request a break during your treatment. Work out a signal with our dentist and assistant that means “pause” so you can catch your breath and calm yourself for a moment. Knowing this can help you feel more empowered instead of helpless.

Don’t Delay, Call Today!

Dental anxiety interferes with getting the dental care your teeth and gums need to thrive. Whether you’re anxious because of a past traumatic dental experience, fear a loss of control as someone is working over you, or you’re scared it will be painful, we can work together to make your dental visit great. We welcome you to call our team to address your concerns and take a confident leap by scheduling your next dental visit! Your smile will look and feel better, and you’ll be glad you did!

Summer is a time for fun, sun, and outdoor activities. However, it’s also a time when people tend to neglect their oral health with all the distractions, like barbecues, ice cream treats, and chilled sugary drinks to stay cool, so it’s all too easy to forget about taking care of your teeth and gums. But good oral health is important all year-round and, unfortunately, neglecting it during the summer months can lead to dental problems down the road.

Summer Oral Health Tips

Here are five tips for maintaining good oral health during those busy summer months!

• Stay hydrated: Staying hydrated is important for your overall health, and it’s especially important for your oral health. Drinking plenty of water can help flush away harmful bacteria, food particles, and oral debris that can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. Water can also help keep your mouth moist, which is necessary to prevent dry mouth, a condition that can lead to bad breath and other oral health problems.
• Limit sugary and acidic drinks: Summer is a time for cold drinks, but sugary and acidic drinks, like soda, iced coffees, and tea are harmful to your teeth. Sugary drinks can lead to tooth decay, while acidic drinks can erode your tooth enamel, leading to sensitivity and other problems. Limit your consumption of soda, sports drinks, and other sugary and acidic drinks, and opt for water or unsweetened tea instead whenever possible.
• Practice good oral hygiene: Good oral hygiene is important year-round, but it’s especially essential during the summer months when people tend to indulge in sugary treats and acidic foods and drinks (as mentioned). Now, more than ever, it is important to brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes each time, and be sure to floss at least once a day to remove plaque and food particles from between your teeth. If you’re constantly on the go, you might want to carry a travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste with you so you can brush your teeth after meals and sweet drinks.
• Wear a mouthguard: Summer is a time for enjoying outdoor sports, but playing sports without a mouth guard can lead to accidental dental injuries. A mouth guard can help protect your teeth and gums from injury, whether you’re playing contact sports like football or non-contact sports like skateboarding. Talk to our dentist about getting a custom-fitted mouth guard that will provide the best protection for your healthy smile.
• Schedule a dental checkup: Summer is a great time to schedule your routine dental checkup. These dental checkups are important for maintaining good oral health and can help catch dental problems before they become serious. If you haven’t had a dental checkup in a while, you can schedule one today. Our dental team is ready to examine your teeth and gums, clean your teeth and provide you with tips for maintaining good oral health tailored to your personal needs.

Call Today!

By following these five tips, you can maintain a healthier smile while enjoying all the fun and activities that summer has to offer. Stay hydrated, limit sugary and acidic drinks, practice good oral hygiene, wear a mouth guard, and schedule your next dental checkup. Your teeth and gums will thank you!

January 1st is the beginning of healthy resolutions for many people. And while ringing in the new year with alcohol is often traditional, it’s also no surprise that it is commonly referred to as National Hangover Day after all those New Year’s Eve toasts. While alcohol consumption can make an occasion more festive and enjoyable, much like sugar, it should also be limited.

New Year’s Resolutions

For a healthy body and smile, we recommend the following New Year’s goals to promote better health overall.

• Freely indulge in all the fruits and vegetables your heart desires. These will boost your immune system and help protect you from poor oral health like periodontal (gum) disease.
• Make this the year you quit using tobacco. Did you know that smokers are nearly twice as likely to lose their pearly whites as those who don’t smoke? This resolution can boost your oral health immeasurably!
• Brush (at least) twice daily and floss once per day. While your toothbrush cleans the teeth, flossing will reach between the teeth and under the gumline, ensuring that all tooth surfaces receive the care they need to prevent plaque buildup.
• Visit your dental team routinely as recommended by your dentist. Coming in at least twice a year allows our team to spot developing dental issues before they advance.

Why Alcohol Is Bad for Teeth

Did you know that sugar is the primary food for the harmful bacteria in your mouth? Quickly turning into dental plaque, this multiplying oral bacteria film infects your gums and releases enamel-eroding acid that causes gum disease and tooth decay. Since alcohol is often mixed with sodas and energy drinks high in sugar and acids, it can seriously hurt your teeth and gums. While drinking occasionally (just like eating sweets on occasion) won’t damage teeth if you clean well afterward, drinking too much definitely can, as it attacks tooth enamel. And while normal healthy saliva levels will neutralize oral acid, it can’t do that if you are downing multiple drinks after another and exposing your pearly whites to corrosive acid attacks.

Of course, most kinds of alcohol are highly acidic on their own, making them harmful to your enamel and even more so if you forget to brush your teeth before bed after indulging in a night of drinking. Speaking of saliva, alcohol actively dehydrates your mouth and body, diminishing saliva levels, which means insufficient saliva in your mouth. Low levels of saliva leave you vulnerable to tooth sensitivity, increased risk of decay and even oral infection.

How Alcohol Impacts Your Gums

If you consume alcohol frequently, you are exposing yourself to a greater risk of experiencing gum disease. You will also experience more dental plaque that builds up around your gums so they become irritated and diseased. And that’s not all. If you are already battling gum disease, frequent drinking can actually worsen your condition as it prevents your gum tissue from healing properly.

You’ll also be at greater risk of cancer if you are a chronic drinker. In fact, chronic drinking is the second biggest risk factor for oral cancer! Chronic alcohol consumption leads to oral cancer of the lips, cheeks, tongue, and sinuses. While cancer spotted in the early stages can often be successfully treated and pushed into remission, but once it has progressed, it is often life-threatening. The good news is routine dental checkups permit our dentist to perform an oral cancer screening that allows us to spot this insidious disease in its early stages.

Healthy Resolutions

When it comes to your oral and general health, taking good care of yourself can make all the difference to your quality of life. As this new year starts, limiting your alcohol intake to special occasions makes good sense. We applaud your efforts to be mindful of alcohol consumption to protect your smile. Give us a call to schedule your next dental visit!

February isn’t just the month when we celebrate all things love; it’s also Gum Disease Awareness Month. Why not show your gums some love? Because your gum health is vital for a healthy smile (and body). Gum disease is linked to Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, coronary artery disease, diabetes, liver cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Our goal this month is to promote good gum health and help you feel more motivated to take the best care possible of your gums. Did you know that harmful oral bacteria and germs can attack the supportive bone, leading to tooth loss? Your gums provide a barrier preventing harmful elements from getting through and attacking your teeth. Without healthy gums, you can actually lose your pearly whites!

Gum Disease Progression

Stage One: Gum Disease

Gum disease, when it invades your mouth, starts with a milder form (gingivitis), which crops up when bad bacteria make their way under the gums, leading to irritation. At this stage, you’ll often notice bleeding, irritated and swollen gums. Timely intervention can often reverse gum disease by taking good daily care of your treated gums as recommended by our dentist. If you ignore your gums at this early stage, they will continue to deteriorate.

Stage Two: Early Periodontitis

The beginnings of bone loss anchoring your teeth start to happen, even though you might not notice serious symptoms. The good news is this gum deterioration can be detected during your regular dental checkups, which is one of the main reasons why these visits are so important to keeping healthy teeth and gums.

Stage Three: Moderate Periodontitis

If periodontitis is left untreated, essential jaw bone and gum tissue are continually whittled away until you feel that your teeth are beginning to feel loose. Dental intervention needs to happen to manage the disease.

Stage Four: Advanced Periodontitis

This is the most severe stage of gum disease. You may notice your teeth feeling even looser, interfering with proper biting and chewing and making eating painful. Not only have the bad bacteria lingering below the gums spread into the soft tissues and jawbone material, but now they have traveled throughout your body via the bloodstream. It wears down your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to the illnesses we mentioned above.

Proactive Gum Care

Now that you are aware of the problems caused by gum disease, show your smile some love to ensure your smile looks, feels, and functions as healthy as possible!

• Brush your pearly whites at least twice a day for two minutes each session. Go the extra mile if you can by investing in an electric toothbrush that does a thorough job of removing dental plaque. Use soft bristles that are gentle on your gum tissue and around the gumline, and brush small circles on the front, back and crevices.
• Floss between teeth to get rid of food particles and bacteria between teeth under the gum line to prevent plaque and tartar buildup. It’s vital that you swipe the floss up and around the gum line of every tooth to catch any oral debris left behind after brushing.
• Schedule routine dental visits. Along with consistent daily oral hygiene maintenance, routine dental cleanings and exams are your main defense against gum disease. Deep cleanings maintain tooth and gum health and spot developing problems early.

This Gum Disease Awareness Month, why not show your smile the love it deserves for healthy teeth and gums? Now is a good time to schedule your next dental cleaning and exam. Our dedicated dental team loves helping patients get healthy, beautiful smiles!