The Importance of Getting a Periodontal Evaluation

Many people tend to avoid going to the dentist but few people have the dental hygiene regimen that warrants such negligence. Your teeth can appear healthy on the surface but have a completely different story to tell when you take a closer peek.

Your teeth aren’t the only things that should be in good health. Your gums also play a major role in keeping your teeth healthy and can develop a periodontal disease very easily. For this reason, a periodontal evaluation is necessary to ensure that your pearly whites aren’t just white–they’re healthy too.

An Undetected Infection

For many people, bleeding gums have become the norm and they don’t pay much attention to the fact that it is unusual. Gums are not meant to bleed and this is the first sign of gingivitis. Left unchecked, this can slowly develop into a severe condition that causes receding gums and other tooth problems.

The worst case is that this can easily start from plaque. If plaque is left on teeth for too long, it can slowly spread and start to infect the gums and other soft tissue around it. From there, it slowly escalates in intensity until it reaches a severe form.

Not Just Your Teeth 

Periodontal disease does not only cause harm to your gums or your teeth. Dentists are studying the connection gum diseases have with other diseases in the body. Many people with periodontal disease also have other afflictions such as heart conditions, osteopenia, osteoporosis and diabetes which have been linked directly to periodontal disease.

With these conditions, it has been established that the bacterial infection that is in the gum can spread into the body via the blood stream and begin to wreak havoc on other areas of the body. This is one of the main reasons why dentists usually recommend that adults over the age of 30 should have a periodontal evaluation on a bi-annual or annual basis.

A periodontal evaluation is a huge life saver. Not only does it help to keep other diseases at bay, it also ensures that your oral hygiene does not put you at risk. In some scenarios, a dentist can identify the presence of periodontal disease but to be truly sure of their suspicions, a periodontal evaluation has to be conducted.

Early Detection and Prevention

Treatment hinges largely on the kind of results garnered from a periodontal evaluation. This can influence the dentist’s decision on beginning immediate treatment to curb the spread of the infection and get rid of it. Based on the severity of the condition, you can usually get rid of it through non-invasive, non-surgical means.

However, in some cases where the gums and teeth are deteriorated, it can require the use of extensive measures such as the extraction of unhealthy or infection prone teeth. Sometimes, this can result in the extraction of all the teeth in the mouth with permanent or temporary dentures being affixed.