As your partner in keeping your smile healthy for life, your dentist worries about the threats that can endanger your oral health. That’s why attending every checkup and cleaning appointment is important. Your visits allow your dentist to ensure that your hygiene efforts at home are working and that issues like gum disease aren’t already becoming a serious threat. For example, untreated gum disease is one of the leading causes of tooth loss for patients in North Hollywood. However, the damage that gum disease can cause goes even further than tooth loss, and its potential impact on your overall health is another important reason why your dentist worries about it.

Tooth Loss – The Most Common Threat

Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, goes through several stages before tooth loss becomes an imminent threat. It begins as gingivitis, an infection in your gums caused by harmful oral bacteria that settle on and underneath your gum tissues. As gum disease grows worse, it destroys the tissues, ligaments, and jawbone structures that support your teeth. Patients who don’t seek treatment until its severe stages often lose one or more teeth due to this level of destruction. In addition to treating the disease and controlling it with lifelong periodontal maintenance, rebuilding their smiles also requires a custom-designed prosthesis to replace their missing teeth.

The More Systemic Worries of Gum Disease

The more severe gum disease becomes, the more involved treating it will be. In severe cases, the inflammation that gum disease-causing oral bacteria incite can also pose a threat to your systemic wellbeing, which makes controlling it early or preventing it altogether even more important. When your gums are diseased, they bleed, and the oral bacteria that cause your gums to become inflamed can also lead to inflammation elsewhere when they enter your bloodstream. Because chronic, unchecked inflammation is a risk factor in issues like cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and more, untreated gum disease can raise your risks for such conditions, as well.

Stop Worrying with Personalized Gum Disease Treatment

Helping you stay on top of your gum disease risks not only helps you better prevent tooth loss, but also a host of other risks that the disease can pose to your overall health. For more information, schedule a consultation by calling Modern Smile in North Hollywood, CA, today at 818-763-9353. We also proudly serve patients who live in Burbank, Toluca Lake, and all surrounding communities.