Stages of Gum Disease ~ Beverly HIlls

Gum disease and periodontal disease are one and the same

Dentists use the name periodontal disease for gum disease. The common form of chronic gum disease is traditionally divided up into four stages as it progresses, or perhaps, we should say, as it worsens. However, the end point of the forth stage is really a separate fifth stage.

The first stage is called gingivitis:

Gingivitis is considered to be an infection characterized by inflammation. The inflammation produces bleeding from your gums, which is the most frequently occurring symptom. Your gums will bleed when you are brushing or flossing your teeth and when you are eating. Generally there is no pain.

The second stage is called early gum disease or early periodontal disease:

 At this stage of gum disease, the types of germs associated with infections that destroy living tissue, are always found in the plaque on your teeth, and in your gums. Because the infection is destructive, it breaks apart the connection of your gums to your teeth. Your gums start to separate from your teeth, forming gum pockets or spaces between your teeth and your gums. Your gums may still bleed easily.

The third stage is called moderate gum disease:

As the disease worsens and your gums become further detached from your teeth, the pockets deepen, because now the bone around your teeth is starting to be destroyed by the infection. Often, this destructive process has very mild symptoms, causing most people to have few, if any, immediate concerns. Sometimes your gums may start to recede, although many times there is no recession. Bleeding from your gums may be less frequent during this stage of gum disease.

The forth stage is called advanced gum disease:

Eventually, your teeth may become loose because a significant amount of bone supporting them is lost from the gum infection. Your gum pockets may now be almost as deep as the length of the root. You may notice some gum recession. Pain is usually still absent. Bleeding from your gums is variable, because by now the infection is mostly at the bottom of the gum pocket. At this stage, you may begin to wonder if you are going to lose any of your teeth. You may now also realize that you have a bad taste in your mouth or suspect that you have bad breath. The truth is that a degree of unpleasant breath may have been present throughout all the previous stages, without your being aware of it.

The last or fifth stage of gum disease is called acute gum disease:

It occurs when the chronic, largely painless infection involving any number of teeth in your mouth, becomes an acute and painful gum abscess around one of those teeth. Pus mixed with blood may sometimes be seen draining out at the gum line. Now your gum disease gets your attention.

Depending on any dental treatment and the state of your immune system, your gum infection may fluctuate back and forth between the chronic stage and the acute stage. The painful symptoms of this stage of gum disease may motivate you to seek immediate dental treatment. You may find yourself losing one or more teeth in spite of receiving dental care. From the time that gingivitis, the first stage begins, until the acute final stage rears its offensive symptoms, many years may elapse.

Source: drgilbert.com