Periodontics is the dental specialty that deals with gums. Roughly 90% of the Spanish population suffers from some kind of gum problem but isn’t aware of it.
The most common gum problems are gingivitis and periodontitis.
Since these diseases barely have any visible symptoms, it’s easy to not notice – sometimes, not even the dentist himself notices, if the mouth exploration during checkup isn’t exhaustive. The problem is that periodontitis can end up making a person lose all their teeth, and by the time teeth start falling, it’s tremendously hard to stop the process, because by the time that happens it means the sickness is very advanced. Thus, early diagnosis and quick treatment are exceedingly important.
Another problematic thing about these diseases is that gums must be taken constant care of, for life. One must brush PROPERLY after every meal, and go to the dentist for a professional mouth cleaning, on average, once a year. Some people might need to do so more frequently, around once every 4 or 6 months, but once a year is the minimum for pretty much everyone.
Regular professional mouth cleanings are a guarantee of good gingival health, as long as proper mouth hygiene is observed at home.
It helps to think of periodontitis as a chronic disease, which can surge and wane – and will progress much slower if it’s well taken care of.
We also can’t forget the long list of proven relationships between gum health and general health: inflamed gums can worsen diabetes as they cause blood glucose levels to fluctuate, periodontitis can cause premature birth or increase the chances of suffering from bronchopneumonia, and so on.
Why does this happen? Well, we must remember that, when we brush our teeth - and we should be doing so 2 or 3 times a day - we cause micro traumas in our gums, and through these microscopic wounds whatever bacteria are in the mouth end up in our blood, and from there anywhere in the body. That’s why it’s important to keep our mouth clean and healthy, without any more bacteria than the normal, non-pathogen ones it should have.
If gingivitis is present, a normal mouth cleaning will do. If there’s periodontitis, scaling or curettage will be required.
A mouth cleaning costs 70€, while a maintenance scaling costs 90€. Both treatments will be exclusively performed by specialized staff, our Dental Hygienists.
Patients that have regular mouth cleanings and checkups will have fewer pathogenic bacteria in their mouth, and if any problem arises it will generally be detected early enough to solve easily.
It’s of the utmost importance for the patient to cooperate with the treatments, since in order to manage bacterial growth a proper dental hygiene at home is paramount. Success depends on a combination of conscientious care on the part of the patient and proper treatment on the part of the dentist in the established period, most commonly 6 months.
We can detect any problems in their initial phases, making treatment simpler and cheaper. A person who visits their dentist regularly (once or twice a year) normally ends up spending far less money, since big, expensive to correct problems never manifest.
