Non-Surgical Gum Disease Treatments in Warrenton, VA
At Drs. Yung & Jelinek, we want all our patients to have a beautiful smile. Sometimes that means nonsurgical gum disease treatment in Warrenton is necessary to keep your teeth and gums clean and healthy. Our dentists have over seven decades of dentistry experience between them, so you can be confident we’ll rid your mouth of gum disease and keep you smiling brightly. Treating gum disease offers many benefits, including:
Doctor Jim Jelinek on non surgical gum disease treatment
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Doctor Jim Jelinek on non surgical gum disease treatment
Gum disease is where—I’ll just show you with my hand here. Say this is a tooth and this is the gum around it, where there's actually a space between the tooth and the gum, all right? And what we do is, to test for gum disease, we use what's called a periodontal probe. It's this little probe with markings. We go around the tooth and we probe down in the gum and anything that's three millimeters or less, to get technical, is considered healthy, all right?
If you go deeper and you're getting bleeding and maybe the patient kind of flinches when you do that, then you've got some periodontal disease going on. With that periodontal disease, you've got bacteria in the gums and that can get in your bloodstream and it gets into your whole body, so it affects all the systems of the body. The biggest thing is the heart. You know, you can have bacterial endocarditis in the heart.
For treatment of gum disease for keeping a patient comfortable, we actually anesthetize the area. You hear about patients say, “I've had deep gum treatments.” I say, “Did they numb you?” You go, “No,” and they say it was painful. Well, you've gotta numb a patient to be able to do that type of an aggressive cleaning, and what's cool about it is when the numbness wears out, usually the patients aren't uncomfortable. It's just during that time that you're doing it, you've gotta anesthetize a patient to do it.
Also, what we do is we break it up into two visits, usually, so the patient's not numb in their whole mouth. Some patients say, “Hey, listen, I wanna do the whole thing,” and we'll do that. Again, it's what the patient desires. You know, we'll educate them about this, say, “Listen, we'll usually an arch at a time,” and then if they wanna do it, we'll do it, but generally, we like to do one arch at a time.
We used to do a side at a time, and we got away from that because when you do a side at a time, sometimes when you get to the middle, they start to feel it, so we just number one arch and that way, the whole thing's numb all the way around. It's more comfortable that way, you know, fewer injections that way, as well.
- Healthier gums with a natural pink color
- Fewer harmful bacteria in your mouth
- Reduced chance of advanced gum disease requiring surgery
- Better breath
- More confidence when talking to people
Call our office at 540-253-1377 to schedule an exam so we can check for signs of gum disease.
Help Your Gums Heal With Scaling & Root Planing
Gum disease (also known as periodontal disease) is a bacterial infection below the gumline. Over time, this infection can cause your gums to pull away from your teeth. If not treated early, it can spread to the bone surrounding the tooth, causing further problems that could require surgery. When we treat periodontal disease, our goal is to help your gums heal and reattach naturally to your teeth. We offer these nonsurgical treatment options:
- Scaling – We’ll gently remove built-up tartar from beneath the gumline where normal brushing and flossing can’t reach.
- Root Planing – We’ll smooth the surface of your tooth roots in the pockets just below the gumline. This helps prevent debris from collecting and causing bacteria to grow in these pockets.
- Antibiotics – Help fight infection in your gums after scaling and planing.
Save Your Smile by Watching Out For These Symptoms of Periodontal Disease
In the early stages of gum disease, symptoms can be hard to spot, so it’s important to schedule regular dental exams and cleanings to catch problems early. Here are some signs to watch for:
- Halitosis (foul-smelling breath)
- Bleeding gums after brushing your teeth
- Swelling or redness in your gums
- Tender gums
- Loose teeth
- Receding gums
If you notice any of these signs, you may need nonsurgical gum disease treatment in Warrenton. Call our dental office today at 540-253-1377, or make an appointment online.
