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Chronic Gingivitis

This lady came to consult me today with the complaint that she has been suffering from bleeding gums for the last say 10years. And during these 10years she has got oral prophylaxis (professional scaling and polishing)  done three times.
Her problem is that everytime she get the professional care, gum bleeding stops for a short duration. Soon the gums again start bleeding.

She is not alone —millions of people worldwide have a number of misconceptions about professional cleaning as perfect treatment for inflammation of gums (Chronic gingivitis, commonly called pyorrhea). Many don’t get the treatment because they think that it would lessen their teeth while some other nurture the misbelief that with cleaning, the teeth become sensitive.

The fact is that many people keep on postponing dental treatment for bleeding gums indefinitely with the hope that it will subside on its own. No, it would not. Rather with time it progresses and involves the deeper tissues thereby irreversibly damaging the dental structures.

Many people frankly tell me that their teeth were okay –only gum bleeding used to be there but ever since they have got the scaling done, their problem has aggravated.

Okay, we were looking at the case of that young lady. What is her fault? – she has got professional care thrice for her bleeding gums. Why this problem of bleeding gums is not leaving her?

It is simply because of the fact that no doubt, as I have written above professional thorough scaling and polishing is the perfect treatment for bleeding gums ( due to tartar deposits) but thereafter regular brushing at home twice a day and daily tongue-cleaning are extremely important. This has to be supplemented by regular periodic dental check-up every six months.

Sadly, there is no concept of regular periodic check-ups in most parts of world. People who can afford to get the treatment for bleeding gum think it is permanent cure —no way, it is not at all —the permanence of cure is too much dependent on the home care regime being adopted by the patient.

And there are some patient specific factors like in this young lady, there is overcrowding of teeth which is not allowing meticulous tooth brushing. So, she needs to be bit more careful while brushing these teeth so that she is able to ensure that plaque/calculus deposits are minimal.

By the way once again she requires the professional scaling and polishing. In the above photo all the features of chronic gingivitis are visible – red, swollen, spongy gums, heavy tartar deposits —the inner surfaces of teeth are also having a lot of calculus deposits.

Please take care.