How to prevent gum disease in adults

What is gum disease?

Interview: Gum disease. The other dental disease you should worry about, especially if you are an adult. We will talk about this next, about the scope.

Dr. David Okano is a periodontist with 30 years of experience and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Utah University. And it seems that when you talk about teeth, the big star is cavities. You have to be careful and take care of and make all the prevention for the cavities. But gum disease can be devastating, especially if you are an adult.

Dr. Okano: Gum disease is another dental disease that is truly alarming. In fact, it is considered the seventh most common disease in the world, even bypassing diabetes. Gum disease is a problem affecting bone support, your teeth roots are affected. And you lose bone support. After all, this could lead to loose teeth. And finally, tooth loss.

Interview: And how widespread is it?

Dr. Okano: Almost 50% of adults will have some amount of bone loss. Thus, wherever from 70 to 90% of adults could probably have a form of gum disease.

Interview: That’s why I and I in this room right now. Does this mean that you probably – do you have gum disease?

Dr. Okano: Yes, I do.

Interview: Maybe I’m lucky then. Maybe I’m the one who doesn’t.

Symptoms of gum disease

Dr. Okano: One of the problems of gum disease there are not many symptoms that will give you an indication that anything that is growing. My problem with gum disease recedes gums. This is a classic symptom of gum disease. And it’s not just brushing your gums very hard with your toothbrush. It could be a symptom of an underlying bone loss problem that could lead to significant concerns in your adult life.

Interview: When you talk about gum disease. I hear gum disease, and then listen to the bone loss, what kind of confuses me a little. Does this confuse most people?

Dr. Okano: Gums disease is somewhat generic to indicate that your gums are affected and your teeth support is. Bone loss is the real problem because there are different forms of gum disease. Some may be as simple as abused gums from the possibility of brushing your gums very hard on important infections that destroy bone support and cause you to lose your teeth. More cases of teeth loss after the age of 35 are due to bone loss with gum disease than due to tooth decay.

Blocking gum disease

Interview: So I can understand how my gums can retreat and lead to bone loss. What are the other ways in which bone loss can occur and there is something I can do about it?

Dr. Okano: The most important thing you can do to prevent or minimize gum disease estimates is to exercise good oral hygiene. This means brushing your teeth at least twice a day and the thread on a daily basis. As for the treatment and prevention of gum disease, the thread is probably more important than brushing the teeth.

Interview: And how often do I have to do thread? I’m sure this is a question you get a lot.

Dr. Okano: This is a great question. And you’re not alone. You should thread on a daily basis. What are the realities? Less than a quarter of the population yarns on a daily basis.

Interview: And what does he do to prevent bone loss?

Dr. Okano: What will make brushing and thread is oral hygiene techniques will remove the bacterial plate. Basically, gum disease is a gum infection that responds to germs in your mouth. We can all associate sugar intake with tooth wear. But sugar may have nothing to do with gum disease. Everything has to do with germs in your mouth that will be collected below the gum line and create an inflammatory response that will eventually discourage the bone.

Interview: You’re afraid of me. Apart from brushing and thread, is there anything I need to do?

Dr. Okano: It would be really important to see your dental office. See them for regular preventive cleaning. To evaluate them. There is a very specific periodontal exam to check gum disease to see if you actually have it. And what can be done about it.

What can your dentist and hygiene do about gum disease

Interview: Is it something my normal dentist could do? Or do I need to see a periodontist?

Dr. Okano: Well, your general dentist can certainly help in the initial diagnosis, perhaps even in initial treatment. Your dentist is a key person to help you with identifying gum disease and treatment.

Interview: And would they tell me if I really had evidence of it?

Dr. Okano: It would be. Be sure to ask them if, in fact, you have some gum disease because it is really a silent disease in the early stages of development.

Interview: Is there anything we left out? Anything you feel obliged to say?

Dr. Okano: It is such an ruthless problem that it would not be uncommon for an average adult to have some form of gum disease. One of the heart signs would be gum bleeding. Many people believe that “we just brushed my gums very hard, and they bleed”. No. This could, in fact, be a symptom of a problem for developing gum disease.

Interview: Is this the main symptom?

Dr. Okano: This would be one of the very early symptoms and easily recognizable. So if your gums bleed, you have checked with your dentist.

Interview: And is it something that can be corrected?

Dr. Okano: Can be treated. And what we are trying to do with periodontal disease is to try to control it. It is a chronic inflammatory disease. It is treated very much like diabetes. In terms of his point of view we check. We do not cure diabetes, we do not cure blood pressure, arthritis. But we can control these long chronic inflammatory diseases quite well. So it can be checked. If it can be tested with enough bone levels, you should be able to have a healthy set of teeth for the rest of your life.

_{Updated: April 3 2025
Originally published: August 31, 2016}