A dentist begins gum disease treatment by giving your gums a cleaning to eliminate bacteria in your mouth. You might have heard this called Periodontal Therapy and the gum disease dentist at Fairfax City is an expert in this technique.

You can actually lose your teeth to gingivitis and periodontitis — the most regular forms of gum disease. These nasty little diseases are infections that break down the parts of your body that hold your teeth together. Once you get either of these diseases, you will begin to see red or bloody gums or some damage to your jaw bone.

Gingivitis is the mildest form of gum disease and is often caused by inadequate oral hygiene, in concert with stress, poor nutrition, some medications, hormonal imbalance, substance abuse, and other factors.

If you've got gingivitis and you don't do anything about it, it will likely turn into periodontitis. After a while, plaque can increase at the bottom of your gums and make your body respond by trying to kill the plaque and annihilate your mouth tissues. The gums declare independence from the teeth and move away and leave empty spots in your mouth that become infected. Over time, you'll experience increasing pain as the root gets more and more uncovered.

During the process of Periodontal Therapy, the gum disease dentist at Fairfax City scrubs your tooth roots clean and takes off all the accumulated plaque and gets all the bacteria off the root.

When the cleaning has been completed, you will be rid of the gum disease. Nevertheless, there will be certain things you have to do to maintain that state of gum health.

Make no mistake: the gum disease will come back with a vengeance if you don't start practicing better oral hygiene. That means you have to build habits of flossing and brushing regularly and using a waterpik with a cannula that will enable you to squirt a mixture of warm water, salt, and hydrogen peroxide on your gums.

Gum disease can be taken care of. But to make sure that it's gone for good, you have to do your part and you have to allow the dentist to check your teeth regularly.