Dr. Phi Huynh is a dentist and has answered some of the common questions Bizymoms visitors have about periodontal disease.
Q. What is periodontal disease?
A. Periodontal disease is an active bacterial infection that causes your gingiva (gums) to bleed and suffer a bone loss.
Q. Who gets periodontal disease?
A. Almost anyone can have periodontal disease, usually above the age of 25, but I have seen it in as young as 12.
Q. How does one know if I have a gum disease?
A. Only a dentist will be able to diagnose if you do have periodontal disease.
Q. How is periodontal disease detected?
A. To detect if a patient has periodontal disease, we do what we call periodontal probing, where we take a periodontal probe and measure the pocket around each tooth. When placing the probe into the sulcus, which is the space between the tooth and the gingiva, if there is no bleeding and measurements are 3mm and less, we consider that as a healthy periodontium. If we see bleeding and 4mm and greater probing depths, we consider that periodontal disease.
Q. How is periodontal disease treated?
A. Periodontal disease is first treated with what we call scaling and root planing, where we scale the root surface of each tooth to remove any unhealthy material, like calculus and bacteria that is attached to the tooth underneath your gums. Once the root surface is smooth, there is a better chance for the gums to reattach to the root surface. If the periodontal disease is more in the advanced stages, where the pockets are too deep to do scaling and root planing, osseous surgery is needed. This type of surgery is usually performed by a periodontist, where they would retract the gingiva away from the teeth so that they have better access to remove anything that is unhealthy. Once all the root surface are smooth, the gum is re-placed and stitched together. In severe cases of periodontal disease where too much bone has been lost around the tooth, the tooth will be needed to be extracted.
Q. Why does one need to see the hygienist regularly?
A. Seeing the hygienist regularly may help to prevent periodontal disease or at least catch it in its early stages where it is treatable.
Q. Will Laser Periodontal Therapy be painful?
A. Laser treatment for periodontal disease is not painful. It is a great treatment in adjunct with scaling and root planing because it actually evaporates the bacteria and cleans the tissue in the pockets which gives a better chance for the gingiva to reattach to the root surface.
Q. How to contact Dr. Huynh if we have further questions?
A.
Address:
9510 Hageman Rd, Ste B
Bakersfield, CA 93312
Phone: (661)829-2700
Email: HuynhP@pacificdentalservices.com
Website: http://www.riverlakesdental.com/
