Peridontal Maintenance

Periodontal maintenance is a term used to describe coming to see your periodontal therapist for a periodontal cleaning.

Once it is determined that your bone and gums are at a healthy state, periodontal maintenance is always recommended. There are two types of patients who require periodontal maintenance. For most patients with advanced disease, three month maintenance appointments are crucial to maintaining periodontal health. Thus, you can see that working in partnership with your periodontal team there are several things you can do to help reach your goal of healthy gums for a lifetime.

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Periodontal maintenance appointments are typically scheduled for one hour with a member of our periodontal therapist team.

During the appointment, your teeth will be cleaned and measurements will be taken. Digital x-rays may be recommended at certain maintenance appointments to evaluate your bone levels and ensure that your disease is remaining dormant. It is up to you to schedule regular periodontal maintenance appointments. The frequency of these visits will be determined by your periodontist and dentist – who will work together on all your treatment needs.

Patients who require periodontal maintenance

Patients who have completed previous periodontal therapy (including scaling and root planning and possible surgical therapy to reduce their periodontal pockets). These patients have a known history of periodontitis and need to be followed closely, having their teeth cleaned and pockets checked regularly by a dental professional
Patients who accumulate plaque and calculus more rapidly than normal. These patients typically have good home care and are proactive, coming in for regular maintenance to minimize the risk of their condition escalating to require active periodontal therapy

The most important element in the road to oral health is you!

No matter how successful your periodontal treatment has been, it is up to you, in partnership with our periodontal team, to maintain your periodontal health. There are several things that you can do to help decrease your risk of susceptibility to periodontitis.

First Second Last

First and most importantly, if you are a smoker you can work to QUIT SMOKING! Studies have shown that smoking increases your chance of losing teeth by 700%! Smoking has a myriad of negative affects throughout your body and in your mouth, but paramount of these is delayed wound healing.

Luckily, research points out that if you are able to quit, you can restore your healing capabilities and increase your chance of success of all types of oral surgery, including dental implants. Other systemic inflammatory diseases worsen the condition of the gums. Diabetic patients are more susceptible to periodontitis, although level of susceptibility if correlated with the stability of blood sugar, thus if blood sugar levels remain well-controlled and stable the effect is negligible.

Equally as important is maintaining optimal daily plaque control. It is recommended that you brush your teeth for two minutes, twice a day and floss daily.

There are several places in your mouth that a toothbrush cannot easily reach. However, if you are like most people, flossing is more difficult and is often not performed often enough. This is a problem as typically, periodontitis begins between the teeth in areas that a toothbrush cannot reach. Please see our HYGIENE section for tips on how to improve your at home care and remember, flossing and cleaning BETWEEN your teeth is key on the road to healthy gums.

Finally, it is up to you to schedule regular periodontal maintenance appointments. The frequency of these visits will be determined by your periodontist and dentist.

For most patients with advanced disease, three month maintenance appointments are crucial to maintaining periodontal health. You can see that working in partnership with our periodontal team, there are several things you can do to help reach your goal of healthy gums for a lifetime.

Smoking Cessation

Studies have shown that smoking increases your chance of losing teeth by 700%! Smoking has a myriad of negative affects throughout your body and in your mouth, but paramount of these is delayed wound healing.

Luckily, research points out that if you are able to quit, you can restore your healing capabilities and increase your chance of success of all types of oral surgery, including dental implants. Please feel free to discuss with your periodontal therapist or dentist your desire to quit smoking. At Whole Dental Wellness we are happy to assist you in any way we can in reaching this goal. Additional information and assistance can be obtained from the US Government at: www.smokefree.gov

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