Four Things Your Dental Hygienist Wants You to Know
Dental care is important to keep your teeth healthy. Here are four things your dental hygienist wishes you knew.
Healthy gums never bleed
Healthy gums shouldn’t bleed. So many patients have gum disease that bleeding gums are very common. In fact, 47% of adults in America over age 30 suffer from periodontal disease as written by perio.org. That’s 1 in 2 adults! If your gums are bleeding when you brush or floss, you have some form of gum disease.
Bleeding gums smell bad
We’ve established that if your gums are bleeding, you have periodontal disease. Gum disease leaves a long lasting bad odor in the mouth. This odor comes from either plaque, pus, dead tissue, or rotting bone. Even after your brush your teeth, this odor will linger throughout the day.
Gum disease Is often “silent”
Many people overlook subtle symptoms of gum disease. It can be silent – completely unnoticed for a long progressing duration. I’ll list the most common types of gum disease with their signs and symptoms.
Gingivitis
- Redness in the gums
- Inflammation
- Bleeding when you floss
- Bad breath from plaque
Slight Periodontitis
- Redness
- Inflammation
- Bleeding when you floss
- Bad breath
- Slight bone loss
Advanced Periodontitis
- Bleeding when you floss
- Bad breath from rotting bone
- Bone loss
- Tooth mobility
- Tooth loss
- Pain in mouth
If you change nothing, nothing will change
If you aren’t happy with your mouth, whether is the way it looks, functions, or feels, you need to make a change. If you change nothing, gum disease will continue to advance. This means that you need to floss more often, brush with better technique, and get your teeth cleaned routinely.
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