Toothless like a Pole

You visit the corporation where you work, friends, cinemas, restaurants and gyms. Start visiting and the dentist. And if you smoke, live under constant stress, your daily menu lacks vitamins and nutrients, you constantly snack between meals – the risk of gingivitis is much greater than in a person who leads a hygienic lifestyle. Introduce a balanced diet (rich in vegetables, fish, dairy products, dark bread), avoid obesity, limit stimulants – and your gums will be in much better condition.

Pay attention to your entire dental “history”. Gum disease is often associated with dental problems such as untreated caries, leaky or too large fillings, improperly made crowns and bridges, pressing dentures, malocclusion or bruxism (teeth grinding). Teeth sealing in childhood could protect us from caries. Unfortunately, this simple procedure is still not reimbursed.

It is the simplest and the most effective method of preventing periodontal diseases. Meanwhile, every tenth Pole does not brush his teeth at all, and some do it only once a day. Proper cleaning requires the use of a brush and paste at least twice a day. Brush the teeth thoroughly with circular movements, as if sweeping away the remains of food, for 2-3 minutes. It’s a good idea to choose a soft brush designed to simultaneously clean the teeth and massage the gums, improving their blood supply. We clean the spaces between the teeth with dental floss and an irrigator. It is worth using a mouthwash that has an antibacterial and astringent effect.

In addition to pharmaceutical preparations, reach for home infusions. The condition of the gums will be positively influenced by herbs such as sage, chamomile, mint, elderberry, oak bark. You can drink chamomile tea, but you might as well use it as a mouthwash. Medicinal water used under pressure will also work well (buy a special irrigator), e.g. sulfur, brine or with a lot of iron.

Unremoved plaque on the teeth hardens over time and transforms into calculus, which irritates the gums and causes the formation of tooth pockets. The larger the pocket, the more the tooth root and the bone around it are exposed to bacteria and degradation processes. Therefore, the removal of plaque is a procedure that we should treat ourselves at least once every six months. The most often removal of calculus is done with an ultrasonic scaler. You can also use a laser, sound waves, chemical preparations or a drill. It is advisable to remove calculus from both the visible part of the tooth and the one located under the gum.

After the basic removal of the scale, the so-called scaling, decide on additional treatments: sandblasting (removing small residues and sediment), polishing or varnishing with a fluoride and calcium gel. In some dental offices they are part of the entire tooth cleaning procedure, in others you have to ask for them additionally.

Stage 6 gingivitis can be easily treated with proper hygiene and its effects are completely reversible. It is worse when the disease progresses and attacks the ligaments around the teeth and bones. Then we are dealing with advanced periodontitis, the symptom of which may be, among others painful swelling or atrophy of the gums, unpleasant smell from the mouth, and above all loosening and movement of the teeth. In such cases, for example, curettage is used, which consists in cleaning and smoothing the tooth root and removing dead epithelium from the pocket. In the case of large pockets (over XNUMX mm), it is necessary to incision the gums. Curettage restores healthy epithelium and helps to fix the teeth.