Chronic, untreated gum disease can wreak havoc on your smile—both its appearance and its health and longevity. That is why our Saint Louis gum disease dentists have compiled this information about steps that you can take to minimize your risk of developing oral tissue infections. We hope that this helps you make a personalized plan to protect your smile. Let’s get started!
How Does Gum Disease Develop?
In order to adequately protect your smile, it is important to understand how gum disease develops in the first place. When we say “gum disease” we are talking about a bacterial infection of your gum tissue. Sometimes this occurs because an untreated infection has spread from your teeth to your oral tissues. However, infections can also start off in your oral tissues and then spread throughout your smile from there.
Minimizing gum disease related damage is all about supporting healthy tissue and making it difficult for oral bacteria to thrive in your mouth.
How Can I Protect My Smile?
You can take concrete steps to support your oral health, and your gum tissues, specifically:
- Drink water throughout the day
- Consume sugars sparingly
- Rinse your mouth after eating or drinking anything other than water
- Brush and floss as recommended by your dental team
- Choose sugar-free mints, cough drops, and gum
- Add a mouth rinse into your routine to kill harmful bacteria
- Complete professional cleanings as often as is appropriate (for most patients this means twice a year)
Another thing to keep in mind is that patients who are managing diabetes are at an increased risk of dealing with gum disease. When you experience fluctuations in blood glucose levels you provide bacteria with an ideal environment, and make it harder for your immune system to do its job. So, it is critical that patients with diabetes receive adequate care.
As always our Saint Louis dentists are happy to provide you with any additional information you may need about gum disease, or daily oral hygiene practices in general. We look forward to speaking with you!