Managing Periodontal Disease: 4 Things You Need to Know

Studies have shown that more than 20% of Australians suffer from periodontal disease.

Periodontal disease is an infection of the gum tissue that surrounds your teeth. If left untreated it can lead to loss of teeth, loss of bone in the jaw, and can even cause issues with eating and speaking. There are also clear links between periodontal disease and other conditions such as cardiovascular disease.

The good news that it is possible to manage periodontal disease so that it doesn’t cause you any major issues. Most importantly, the following advice works best when combined with seeing a dental professional for maintenance appointments, along with lifestyle and dietary modifications for best results.

1. Good Oral Hygiene

The first thing you should do to manage home oral care for periodontal disease is to maintain good oral hygiene routines.

That means brushing your teeth twice a day, or ideally after every meal or sugary snack. You may also want to consider using an electric toothbrush. Electric toothbrushes can remove more plaque than manual brushing, and may do less damage to your gums since most people don’t press as hard when using an electric toothbrush.

You should also floss your teeth daily to remove any food debris trapped between your teeth or in your gums.

Good oral hygiene is even more important if you have a poor diet or other lifestyle habits such as smoking that can have a severe impact on your oral health.

2. Interdental Brushes

As well as regular flossing, you should consider using interdental brushes.

These small bristly brushes can help to remove even more plaque and debris from between your teeth. This means there will be less chance for bacteria to attack your teeth and gums thereby causing periodontal disease.

You need to find the right size brushes for your teeth. If you have teeth that are very close together you may find that even the smallest brush won’t fit. In this case, you should use floss between these teeth. Our dental staff are all well trained to check which sizes fit you best.

3. Scaling

No matter how well you brush, floss, and use interdental brushes, you’ll never be able to remove every single piece of plaque from your teeth.

That’s why it’s important to make regular visits to your Bondi Junction dentist. Your dentist/hygienist can scale your teeth. This involves using dental implements or other devices to remove tartar build-up and bacteria from your teeth and gums.

The more tartar and bacteria that are removed, the lower your chances of developing periodontal disease. You should aim to visit your dentist every six months at a minimum as they will be able to detect and diagnose periodontal disease.

4. Oral Irrigation

Another way that you can increase the amount of debris and plaque that you remove from your teeth and gums at home is to use an oral irrigator.

These devices produce a jet of pressurised water that cleans between your teeth and below your gum line. Studies have shown that using these devices can reduce inflammation in your gums as well as flushing out more debris and bacteria. Using the irrigator with mouthwash instead of plain water is another added benefit of using this device to deliver cleaner, healthier gums.Why not consider adding oral irrigation to your daily oral hygiene routine?

Are You Suffering From Periodontal Disease?

If you’re one of the one-in-five Australians suffering from periodontal disease, then we’re here to help.

Book an appointment to see your friendly dentist in Bondi Junction and we can help to ensure that your teeth and gums are in tip-top condition. As well as dental hygiene and restorative dentistry, we also offer cosmetic dentistry and family dentistry too.

Whatever your oral health needs, book an appointment with us today.