Taking care of the gums not only provides important benefits for oral health, but also has positive consequences on general health. For this reason, periodontology treatment is an essential pillar to guarantee better overall health.
The latest surveys on oral health carried out in our country show that in Spain approximately 90% of the population over 35 years of age has some problem related to the gums.
Periodontal diseases are infectious diseases of bacterial origin that affect the tissues that surround the teeth. They have a multifactorial origin, and genetic, environmental, local factors also influence …
Gingivitis and periodontitis are the two main periodontal diseases. When only the gum is affected, causing a reversible inflammatory process, it is called gingivitis; In the case of periodontitis, in addition to inflammation of the gums, there is an irreversible destruction of the tissues that support the tooth, endangering its survival.
Negative consequences
Periodontology diseases, in addition to the clear consequences that they have at the oral level, also have an impact on a systemic level: that is, the negative consequences can extend beyond the mouth and affect other parts of the body and enhance or complicate some disorders as frequent and important as diabetes.
At the oral level, the most tangible effect of periodontal diseases (and the true end point of this disease) is tooth loss, which can lead to significant functional and aesthetic problems. But in addition, these diseases can cause bleeding, halitosis, gingival recession, dental mobility, pain … which can negatively affect the quality of life.
Oral health benefits
One of the main benefits of oral periodontology treatment is that it prevents tooth loss; in fact, the available scientific evidence reveals that this therapy is predictable when it comes to dental “mortality” * rates.
And is that the main objective of periodontal treatment is the long-term maintenance of natural teeth in a healthy, functional, aesthetically acceptable and pain-free state. To do this, it is a priority to stop the inflammatory disease process and control the possible associated risk factors.
The data obtained in recent studies show that patients who receive periodontal treatment lose an average of 0.1 teeth per person per year compared to 0.6 teeth per person per year that patients who do not receive treatment lose. Of course, the results are obtained and maintained over time as long as the patient receives adequate and periodic maintenance therapy.
The fact of achieving health and good long-term results will also allow patients to benefit from the entire arsenal of treatments that multidisciplinary teams can offer, today, to achieve a healthy, functional and aesthetic mouth, thus improving the quality of life.
Another beneficial effect of periodontology treatment is its ability to produce improvements in the various clinical variants, which translates into the absence of bleeding, less dental mobility and control of halitosis.
Currently, as published in a recent report by the Spanish Periodontology Society (SEPA), it is estimated that in 90% of halitosis (bad breath) cases the origin of the bad smell is from the mouth and in more than half of these cases (around 60%) the problem is closely related to some type of periodontal pathology (gingivitis in 60% and periodontitis in the other 30%).
And does it benefit general health too?
Nowadays, there is a growing body of scientific evidence that highlights the important links between periodontal health and general health.
The repercussions of periodontology disease at the systemic level derive, either from the presence of a large number of bacteria at the subgingival level that can produce a direct effect, or from the systemic inflammation that they generate. This means that gum disease can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, of having a premature birth or that the fetus registers a low weight at birth or of producing decompensation of diabetes, among many other effects.…