When you go to the dentist with gum disease, he will first do a good cleaning to destroy the disease-causing bacteria. This is called Periodontal Therapy and the gum disease dentist at Downtown Vancouver knows how to do it well.

You may have heard gum disease referred to as gingivitis or periodontitis. Those are infections caused by bacteria that eat away at the gums and bone supporting the teeth. As a consequence of having these diseases, you'll have to learn to cope with major problems in your gums or jaw.

Gingivitis is the first stage of gum disease and comes about because of mediocre oral hygiene and other factors like smoking, pregnancy, bad nutrition, age, and some medicines.

Gingivitis usually becomes periodontitis if it is not taken care of. As time passes, plaque will begin to expand and increase past the point of where your gum begins and make your body respond by trying to kill the plaque and demolish your gums and jaw bone. When the gums slack off of the teeth and slink away, this creates big holes that get infected by bacteria. Ultimately, you end up with a bare root, and things can get in there that make it painful.

Periodontal Therapy is a procedure in which the gum disease dentist at Downtown Vancouver carefully cleans the root surfaces of the teeth to remove plaque and tartar from deep pockets and gets rid of all the poison that's been living in your mouth.

When the cleaning has been completed, you will be rid of the gum disease. But that doesn't mean you won't have to do anything to keep it that way.

Make no mistake: the gum disease will come back with a vengeance if you don't start practicing better oral hygiene. For best results, floss after every meal and then brush your teeth; afterward, use a waterpik with a little hypodermic that can spray a solution of peroxide, warm water, and salt into the gums below and between the teeth.

Gum disease is curable. But to make sure that it's gone for good, you have to take control over your health regiment and see the dentist often.