Is there a cure for gum disease or gingivitis?
Let me start out by suggesting that the cure word is a big 'No, no!" in health care. You will very seldom here health care practitioners talk about a cure. They usually avoid that word like the plague.
They usually talk about 'treatments' or protocols2 or something like that. But seldom will you hear the word 'cure'. It's nearly taboo and for a number of good reasons that we don't need to elaborate on here.
We will follow the same line in this blog post. We won't talk about a cure for gingivitis or a cure for gum disease. Instead we will talk about what has worked for a lot of people and might work for you too. In addition, I'll give some tips on how you can prove to yourself if it is working or not. So read on.
Gum Disease And Gingivitis Basics
Gingivitis is usually considered the beginning stage of gum disease and when they use the word gum disease, it is slightly more advanced. When they get to "periodontal disease" it's usually a little more serious. But, please understand that these terms are somewhat interchangeable and the definitions are a bit blurry at times. Just understand that these three terms describe the same disease process, just to varying degrees.What Is The Gum Disease / Gingivitis Process?
It is essentially anaerobic bacteria run amok. Much revolves around the depth of your periodontal pockets - which your dentist can measure for you. When those pockets are deeper than three millimeters, generally speaking, most dental health professionals will call that a disease situation.Conversely, at 3 mm or less, most dental professionals would consider that tissue to be healthy.
When the 'bad' anaerobic bacteria accumulate to sufficient quantities the are able to secrete enough toxic acids (mostly waste products) to destroy your tissue. That would refer to gum tissue as well as the supporting bone underneath. When the bone underneath is destroyed you often see the results as receding gum tissue.
Again, when the periodontal pockets are 3mm or less, the bacteria, it is generally thought, cannot achieve sufficient quantities of acidic by products to destroy tissue. Hence you have the cutoff of 3mm as the line between healthy and unhealthy gum tissue.
How The Periodontal Pocket Depth Numbers Directly Help You
This is perhaps the most important piece of information in this blog post. So, if you can only focus on one place, put that focus here.Whether you utilize my preferred methods for combatting gum disease or some other method, the periodontal pocket depth readings are perhaps your only objective way to figure out if you are improving or not.
Because they are a relatively objective way to measure gum health, these numbers empower you. It takes the guess work out and it eliminates your reliance on someone else to explain where you are at. It also reduces someone's ability to scare you into expensive treatments.
Furthermore, they inform you on the progress or lack thereof of what you are doing at home to stop this problem. What you do at home is most important and it is the key to knocking this problem out.
So, as a recap: When your periodontal pockets depths are 3mm or less, generally speaking, most dental health professionals will tell you that your gums are healthy. When they are more, generally the opposite is true.
Find out what your baseline is today and measure what you do from this point forward against that baseline.
This will tell you where you are at on your journey and if you have arrived at your destination without being totally dependent on someone else's opinion. If the last few paragraphs didn't make sense, read them again and stew on them a while. It should become evident how important this is at some point. Or bookmark this page and come back and read it again tomorrow and more until you 'get' it.
What Worked For Me Personally
I was in a situation where my dentist and hygienist were pushing me to get a Scaling and Root Planing treatment. This is also know as SRP treatment or 'deep cleaning'. That was at least 12 years ago and I've never had one because the need for it, as stated by my dentist, went away.How did that happen. Well, I had been told by my dentist and hygienist that nothing else would work aside from this treatment.
However, I found information that indicated to me two things:
- You can have gum recession as a result of this treatment
I could not imagine how this could possibly be the 'best thing' for me. I however was stuck for some time.
I tried a number of things including various mouthwashes, oil pulling, essential oils and different combinations of things. In some cases, I think some of these may have made the problem worse.
I'm not saying those things don't work for some people, but I am saying they did not do the job for me. I did finally find something that works after this lengthy period of trial and error. I kept going back to the dentist and hygienist and they kept telling me what I was doing wasn't working and that I still needed their treatment.
That is until: I started using this device. After using that device for several months, I went back and this time I was told by the same dentist, "Whatever you are doing, keep it up. You don't need that treatment any longer". Bang, problem solved - for me.
I have since discovered that when used correctly, many other people have achieved similar results to mine. I have heard from a number of people who say this is what keeps their gums healthy and that their dentist is surprised to see their gums in such good shape.
I decided to write a book about my experience and share the information that I uncovered about the disease process itself, the above mentioned device and a number of other useful things I found. This book is available in both paperback form and e-book form.
I also have a free guide entitled How To Stop Gum Disease In 4 Easy Steps. You can find that here.
No matter what you have read here, you should always be under the care of a good periodontist. They are specialized dentists in gum health and disease and they are the primary professional you should seek out if you have or think you might have gum disease.
