How gum disease is detected?
Normal healthy gums are usually described as 'coral pink' in colour and usually fit to a nice sharp point as they approach the point where the teeth come together and contact. The healthy gums have a 'pebble grain' appearance which is called 'stippling'.

When gums become diseased, they:

• change in colour from coral pink to a more reddish colour
• change in form from a nice sharp, tapered form into a rounded, swollen, less tapered form.
• lose their appearance of stippling and become shiny as well as reddened.

The Periodontal Probe
The periodontal probe is basically a thin nail-like instrument the dentist will insert between a gum and a tooth and depending on how far the 'nail' will slide in, the dentist can evaluate if one has gum disease. If the nail (the probe) slides in more than 4 mm, then this could indicate gum disease.

How gum disease periodontitis can be treated?
The treatment of gum disease varies depending on the degree of involvement with the disease.

There are three ways of treating periodontitis:

• non-surgical planning - with a long thin drill-like device
• surgical removal of infected gum tissue
• and then prevention - brush your teeth religiously

Non-surgical planning of gum disease
A non-surgical treatment is called root planning.
Root planning is where the gum tissues are usually anaesthetized with a Novocain anaesthetic and the dentist or hygienist will scrape the diseased tooth root until it is clean and no longer contains bacterial waste products.
This is done by a long thin drill type of instrument which slides between a tooth and the surrounding gum, and the turning motion, plus water and disinfectant squirted via this drill, clean out the bacteria and scrape the area around the tooth and between the tooth and the gum free of any material (infected tissue, pus, deep-rooted tartar etc) that may be present.
If this is done at the initial stage of gum disease, the disease can be stopped in its tracks, and be prevented from progressing.

If this is the case, the planning - drill scraping, should then be repeated periodically, say twice a year - even 3 to 4 times a year - or as often as suggested by your dentist.Depending on how sensitive one is, this treatment can sometimes be done without anaesthetic, but if one is too sensible especially towards the outside of the teeth roots, then small injections of anaesthetic may be injected into the surrounding gum.

Root planning may sometimes be enhanced with antibiotics that are taken orally or placed into the gum 'pockets'. Not all cases of gum disease will have antibiotic enhancements as a part of their root planning therapy. After root planning, the gum tissues are usually tender or sore, but not usually painful. When the periodontist determines the gum disease aggressiveness, the periodontist can determine the modifications in the root planning treatments that best fit your case.

Gum surgery
Gum surgery is done to eliminate disease pockets which still exist after all healing has been achieved following root planning. There are, however, a small number of cases which will not benefit from non-surgical root planning and surgery will be recommended without having root planning done. Surgery is most frequently done with a Novocain local anaesthetic. A periodontal dressing may be placed after the surgery in order to protect the tissues. There may be some pain after periodontal surgery.
When surgery is done and diseased tissue is removed, the teeth may have more root surface exposed. This amount of exposure represents the amount of root surface which lost its gum and bone support from the gum disease. The surgery does not cause unnecessary damage

How long will the benefits of gum treatment last?
The benefits of periodontal therapy are determined by the severity of your case before you were treated. If you have severe problems with many loose teeth, these teeth may not have much of a future. You should not spend much on teeth without a promising future.
However, if your teeth still have good strength despite gum disease being present, there is no reason why you should not get excellent long-term results if you properly take care of your mouth after your gum treatment.

What do I need to do in order to maintain good health after gum treatment?
You must clean your teeth efficiently on a daily basis. This means brushing and flossing. Patients who brush many times a day, but not once efficiently are not cleaning their teeth properly.