Maintaining your gums to keep them healthy is an easy thing to do. Leaving them unmaintained can lead to serious gum problems, or even worse, losing your teeth. It’s relatively easy to treat gum disease when caught early. But preventing them from happening is even better.
What is Gum Disease?
When bacterial infection or plaque build-up starts to surround your teeth, this is where gum disease will show up. During its early stages, it only affects the soft tissue of the gum, and this is called the gingivitis. Signs that you may have developed gingivitis is when your gums start to look red and swollen which bleeds every time you brush your teeth.
When left untreated, it will lead to a more severe disease called periodontitis. This disease is characterized by the gaps between the gums and teeth owing to the loss of tissue and bone because of the infection. Signs of having this disease is when you have bad breath or an increase in bleeding when brushing your teeth. Leaving it untreated will result in tooth loss.
Steps to Follow to Prevent Gum Disease
Keeping your teeth and gums healthy by having a healthy diet and good oral hygiene is the key to prevent gum disease.
- Oral Hygiene
- Brushing twice a day is enough to prevent decay from developing in your teeth and gums. Flossing is also advisable too but make sure that you don’t put too much pressure while doing it or else it’ll damage your gum line. The toothbrush you use and the way you brush has an impact on your teeth and gums. Using electric toothbrushes that have a smaller and rounder brush heads is ideal to use to clean every part and corner of your teeth. It’ll also help you to prevent from brushing too hard since the electric toothbrush’s speed is optimized in order to avoid damage on your gums and teeth.
- Foods to Avoid
- If you’re a person that loves to eat sugary foods and sweets so much, then it’s time to stop. Bacteria like to feed on sugar. And when bacteria spreads, cavities, tooth decay, and gum diseases will likely show up. You must limit yourself eating foods like biscuits, cake, chocolate, and other sweets to prevent this from happening. Don’t be fooled to some mint and chewing gums that are labeled as “sugar-free”. These things should be avoided too as they also contain a bit of sugar. Limit yourself from drinking sugary drinks too or even better, avoid drinking it altogether. Acidic foods such as citrus fruits or drinks, fermented and pickled foods, coffee and tea can also damage tooth enamel.
- That may seem a lot, but the list doesn’t stop there. You should also avoid or limit yourself from eating ice cream, ice lollipops, and fizzy drinks too if you have sensitive gums and teeth.
- Stop Smoking Smoking is also a culprit when it comes to gum disease and the development of periodontitis. Smoking too much can lead to the production of dental plaque. To make it even worse, smoking limits the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream which prevents infected gums to heal properly.After following these steps, the best way to prevent gum disease is to visit your dentist frequently. Dentists can give you dental care advice as well as spot problems on your gums during its early stages and may offer you recommended treatment options.
