The Importance of Periodontal Disease Maintenance
This is Dr. Perez, and here I am at Diamond Dental Arts. I would like to discuss, probably one of the most important concerns that arises after a patient comes to see us: periodontal disease and the importance of the recall appointment after the cleaning needs to be done.
New Patient Examination Reveals Periodontal Disease
Okay, let's say you are a new patient coming to our office after five years without seeing a dentist. During the examination, we realize that you have an extensive amount of calculus buildup over your teeth, your gums are bleeding, and the X-ray shows some bone loss.
That's when we determine you have periodontal disease, which I would like to clarify. It's not the same as gingivitis. Gingivitis is the early stage of gum disease and only affects the gums. Periodontitis also affects the bone that holds your tooth.
Treatment for Periodontal Disease
The treatment for periodontal disease is a type of cleaning that we call a deep clean because it removes the plaque and bacteria from your tooth not only above the gum but also below the gum. This is where patients get confused. The deep cleaning is only done once, but after that, patients feel so good that they assume they need to come to appointments only once or maybe twice a year.
Unfortunately, that is not true, and I can assure you the only way to maintain periodontal disease under control is with perio maintenance appointments. We call it perio maintenance because we need to bring the patient in at least three to four times during the year. It's an appointment control maintenance because we need to maintain what we achieved with that deep cleaning.
The good news is that once, after a while with these recalled scheduled appointments, we check that your gums and your bone are healthy again. We can bring you back to the regular appointments or the regular cleaning appointments.
Schedule Your Dental Care with Diamond Dental Arts
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