Gingivitis
Gingivitis is the medical term for gum inflammation.
Signs: swelling, reddening, or bleeding in the area near the edges of the gums.
Symptoms: In general, there are no symptoms, except bleeding when eating or brushing one’s teeth, therefore it goes undiscovered for a long period in many situations.
Causes: Plaque is the most common cause of inflamed gums, it is a thin film that is mainly made up of bacteria. It generally occurs where the tooth and gum join. In your mouth, the bacteria in the plaque “consume” the sugars in food, and their waste products can lead to inflamed and swollen gums. Plaque can be removed by brushing your teeth thoroughly.
Prevention:
Plaque can be removed by brushing your teeth thoroughly. Gum inflammation can develop within a few days if plaque is not cleaned from the teeth. Furthermore, tartar can form when plaque becomes hard. Only dentists can remove tartar.
In other words, maintaining good dental hygiene can lower the risk of developing gingivitis.
Treatment:
To treat gingivitis, tartar must be removed, as well as any protruding filling or crown margins, if necessary. Since the bacterial plaque behind these margins is more difficult to remove.
Sometimes gingivitis returns. But it could also persist for a very long time, aggravate, and progress into periodontitis.
Periodontitis
Is a condition when the soft tissues and bone that surround the teeth become infected and inflammatory.
Signs & Symptoms: Until it has advanced, periodontitis frequently shows no signs at all. It can cause red and bleeding gums, sensitive teeth, shrinking gums (long teeth), pain, and bad breathing. When the gums are inflamed, they may begin to pull away from the tooth’s neck forming gum pockets, which are called (periodontal pockets). Periodontitis can cause teeth to shift positions, start swaying, or hurt when you chew, and in more advanced cases it may cause teeth to fall out.
Prevention: Offering dental hygiene advice (encouraging patients to brush their teeth and floss regularly) and performing routine dental cleanings. A more extensive procedure called scaling and root planing is performed which is considered the “gold standard” initial treatment for periodontitis.
