Gum disease is a serious oral health condition that can cause severe pain and, sometimes, tooth loss in adults. The gum disease development process is slow and may take a while. For this reason, it might be challenging to notice the early signs. Gum disease begins with the accumulation of food particles in the teeth and gums, which makes it favorable for harmful bacteria to grow and cause an infection.
When left untreated, gum disease can cause severe complications for your oral health. Additionally, the bacteria from your infected gums can enter the bloodstream and cause cardiovascular issues. Therefore, educating yourself on the signs of the condition may be necessary to ensure you seek prompt dental care and have the condition reversed or treated.
The safest way to ensure the signs of gum disease are detected early is by making regular dental visits. Your dentist can examine the health of your mouth and gums and identify an issue that may take a lot of work for you to notice.
Some of the common signs of gum disease include:
Loose Teeth
Although loose teeth are a regular occurrence for children losing their first set of teeth, it can be worrying when it happens to an adult. You will have loose teeth when your teeth slowly detach from the gums above the bone, and they can move slightly when touched or when you brush your teeth. Swollen and bleeding gums may accompany loose teeth.
Teeth loosening does not occur without cause in adults. Loose teeth indicate a much more severe dental complication, like gum disease. Gum disease, in its early stages, cannot cause tooth loosening. However, when left untreated, the bacteria causes the gums to pull away from the teeth.
Additionally, the infection creates pockets of infection, which cause deterioration in the connective tissues and bone that support your teeth. Over time, your teeth will detach from the bone and fall out. If you experience tooth loosening that is not caused by trauma to your mouth, you need further assessment for an early diagnosis and treatment of potential gum disease.
Bleeding Gums
While bleeding gums can occur due to other factors like trauma, leukemia, or brushing too hard, it is the most prevalent sign of gum disease. Gum disease develops when plaque remains on your teeth for too long. The plaque contains food debris and bacteria, which eventually cause an infection of the gums.
When you fail to brush and floss your teeth properly, the development of gum disease may be inevitable. You know you have bleeding gums when you notice blood in your toothbrush, even when you do not brush vigorously. Additionally, you can find blood spots in your floss after use.
If you experience bleeding gums, you should schedule an appointment with your dentist. Bleeding gums associated with gum disease will only worsen when left untreated, resulting in continued infection and bad breath. When you consult your dentist, they will check for the exact cause of your bleeding gums and recommend appropriate treatment.
Your dentist identifies gum disease by visually examining your mouth and gums. If other symptoms, like gum recession and bleeding, accompany the bleeding gums. However, if your dentist notices that your teeth are healthy and there is no confirmation of gum disease, they can send you for further blood testing to determine the cause of the bleeding gums.
Receding Gums
Gum recession occurs when the gum tissue's margin surrounding your teeth pulls back and exposes the tooth root. When your gums recede, pockets form around the gums, allowing bacteria to build up along the gums. Gum recession is a common dental complication often associated with gum disease.
Since gum recession occurs gradually, detecting it during the early stages of periodontitis may be difficult. As the infection progresses, your gums swell and can pull away from your teeth. Receiving gum is something you should pay attention to. This is because, when left untreated, it can cause your teeth to loosen and eventually fall off.
Additionally, gum recession can create cosmetic concerns by distorting your smile. While you may hardly notice your gums moving away from your teeth, a competent dentist may be able to identify signs of gum recession during your routine dental checks.
This is done using a periodontal probe to measure the recession on each tooth. Since bone loss is also an indicator of gum recession, the dentist could measure the size of the gum pockets on each tooth. In this case, further assessment will determine whether you have gum disease and receive the appropriate treatment.
Bad Breath
Everyone experiences bad breath from time to time. This could result from poor oral hygiene, smoking, or eating foods with an intense scent, like garlic and onions. In this case, the bad breath will disappear when you brush or use mouthwash. However, there are times when your bad breath is associated with an oral health condition like gum disease.
Halitosis, resulting from gum disease, persists even when you brush and floss. The main sign of bad breath is a foul smell from your mouth, which is easily noticeable by other people. Bad breath can ruin your self-esteem and limit your interactions with other people.
Gum disease develops due to tartar accumulation and plaque around your teeth and gums. When left for a long time, the plaque will cause an infection of the gums and other complications, like tooth decay. The infection in your mouth causes bad breath.
Unfortunately, tartar and plaque cannot be removed using basic oral hygiene practices like brushing and flossing. Therefore, you can develop gum disease and bad breath even when you maintain proper oral hygiene after tartar formation.
Periodontal Pockets
Your teeth are held snugly into their sockets by bone and gums. A periodontal pocket is an opening or space surrounding your tooth under the gums. Having periodontal pockets could be a sign of a severe oral infection or gum disease. When left untreated, the periodontal pockets become breeding grounds for harmful bacteria, which cause further dental issues.
When you develop gum disease, your infected gums can loosen around the teeth, allowing these pockets to form. Fortunately, periodontal pockets are an early sign of gum disease and can be reversed with proper oral hygiene, professional teeth cleaning, or other dental treatments.
A dentist measures periodontal pockets in millimeters. The size of your periodontal pockets helps determine the stage of your gum disease. The larger the pockets, the more advanced the condition. In severe cases, periodontal pockets may need surgery to be treated. Your risk of developing gum pockets and periodontal disease increases if you are a smoker or neglect your oral hygiene.
Periodontal Abscess
A periodontal abscess is a pocket of infection that forms around your gums. While anyone can develop a periodontal abscess, it is a common symptom for individuals with advanced stages of gum disease. The infection from this abscess can spread to other parts of the body and cause severe complications when left untreated.
The periodontal abscess looks like a pimple or boil on your gums and is often filled with pus. This causes your gums to swell and appear darker than normal. Although the most obvious sign of a periodontal abscess is a pimple or boil in the gums, some people feel tenderness and pain. Other ways to identify the abscess include:
- Bad taste in the mouth. If you feel a metallic taste in your mouth, it could be from the pus in the periodontal abscess.
- Pain when you chew. When you have a periodontal abscess, the pressure from chewing could cause severe pain and discomfort.
- Bad breath. A periodontal abscess will form when the infection in your gums has progressed. Therefore, you could experience a smell from your mouth.
While the pain and discomfort from a periodontal abscess may be difficult to ignore, failure to seek immediate dental care could cause further complications like the progression of gum disease, blood infection, and tooth loss.
Swollen and Inflamed Gums
Swollen gums are a symptom of various health conditions, including mineral deficiencies, hormonal changes, and infections. A common condition that could cause your gums to swell is gum disease. Gum disease develops when bacteria from leftover food particles form an infection around your gums.
Swollen gums have a purple or reddish hue. This is due to increased blood flow as the body fights the infection. You may experience swelling and inflammation of the gums in the early or advanced stages of the gum disease. While the swelling may subside with remedies like cold presses, salt water rinses, and antibiotics, you should not ignore the symptoms.
A dental assessment ensures that severe complications, like gum disease, are ruled out. When the gum inflammation is unattended, the gums can begin to bleed.
Tooth Sensitivity
Tooth sensitivity is an oral health condition characterized by sharp pain and discomfort when you eat, drink, or brush your teeth. Often, the sensitivity is triggered by hot or cold substances entering your mouth. While tooth sensitivity may be caused by trauma to the enamel, teeth grinding, or cavities, it may also be a symptom of gum disease.
Gum disease causes tooth sensitivity by damaging the gums and exposing the tooth root to outside factors like extreme temperatures. Treatment for gum disease will be necessary to eliminate the sensitivity in this case.
Changes in Bite
While not everyone is born with a perfect smile and perfectly fitting teeth, changes in bite or malocclusion may indicate gum disease. You will be diagnosed with a misaligned bite if your teeth no longer meet when you bite. Some of the common forms of bite change in adults include:
- Cross bite. A crossbite occurs when your upper teeth bite inside your lower teeth. This problem could affect a single or multiple teeth, depending on the cause of the misalignment. When left untreated, a crossbite can cause your jaw to shift on one side and possibly damage the tooth enamel.
- Underbite. This occurs when your lower jaw sits in front of your upper jaw.
- Open bite. You have an open bite when your lower and upper teeth do not overlap, causing gaps between the teeth. Failure to treat the root cause of an open bite can cause severe speech difficulties.
- Teeth protrusion. This occurs when your front teeth stick out, and the upper jaw is too forward beyond the lower jaw.
A change in bite will affect your smile and your ability to chew food correctly. Additionally, your teeth could grind together, damaging the enamel. Although having a little less of a perfect bite is not always an indication of gum disease, the advanced stages of periodontitis can cause damage to your gums and jawbone. This will, in return, cause your teeth to shift and fail to bite correctly.
Pain When Chewing
Unless you have had trauma to your teeth, you should not experience pain and discomfort when chewing your foot or biting down. However, poor gum health resulting from gum disease can cause you to experience pain when you chew your food. Often, this is a result of the infection in your gums.
When gums are infected, a detachment can occur between the teeth and gums. Additionally, the gums may swell and develop an abscess. When you apply the biting or chewing pressure, you will experience pain.
You should not ignore the pain you experience when you chew or bite. Therefore, consulting with a dentist for an assessment is necessary to ascertain whether the issue is related to gum disease.
Find Reliable Dental Services Near Me
Failure to maintain proper oral hygiene and health practices can cause severe dental complications, including gum disease. Periodontitis, commonly known as gum disease, is a leading cause of tooth loss among Americans aged thirty or older. Some common signs of gum disease you should look for include bleeding gums, gum recession, tooth sensitivity, and changes in your bite.
If you experience these symptoms, you must seek immediate dental care. This ensures early diagnosis and intervention to avoid further oral health complications. Your oral health is critical to your overall well-being, which you should only entrust to a competent dentist.
At Washington Dental, we believe the key to preventing dental complications like gum disease is identifying and treating the condition's early signs. We offer safe and affordable dental services for all our patients seeking dental services in Los Angeles, Lomita, and Torrance. Contact us at 310-217-1507 today for much-needed expert care.
