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Replacing Teeth After Gum Disease

Gum disease refers to a common type of oral infection affecting the gum tissue. Many people associate it with inflammation in the gums. But this infection can progress and harm the teeth and jawbone too over time.

This extensive dental damage may cause one or more teeth to fall out of their sockets. Your dentist can treat gum disease with thorough cleaning and antibacterial treatments. But after eradicating the infection, how can your dentist replace these lost teeth?

Tooth replacement treatment can vary depending on the extent of the damage to your smile. A dentist will evaluate your dental health and develop a customized plan that will suit your unique smile. Read on to learn how gum disease will lead to missing teeth and how a dentist can restore oral health in the wake of this infection.

Replacing Teeth After Gum Disease

How Does Gum Disease Cause Tooth Loss?

Gum disease begins with irritation, pain, swelling, and bleeding in the gums. Then without urgent treatment from a dentist, bacteria will spread and start to eat away at the tooth root and bone in the jaw.

This advanced stage of gum disease, periodontitis, can see weakening and destruction in these parts of the mouth. After this irreversible dental damage, the tooth can fall out. Or a dentist might need to extract the tooth to stop the spread of infection.

Even if a dentist treats gum disease at this stage, structural dental damage, including tooth loss, will remain. Seek prompt care for your gums to avoid tooth loss and other dental problems.

Will Gums Support Dental Implants After Infection?

Tooth loss can put you at risk of many types of oral health complications. So you should consult your dentist about replacing teeth you lost due to gum disease. Dental implants make for ideal tooth replacement solutions due to their capacity for comprehensive oral restoration.

But in the wake of gum recession and other damage from gum disease, you might not have enough stability in your mouth to support the fixture of a dental implant. The treatment uses surgically inserted titanium post anchors in the jaw. They fuse with the bone there to ultimately support dental prosthetics.

If you lost too much gum tissue or jawbone due to gum disease, the fusion process cannot occur properly. Then the implant can fail. A dentist can evaluate the extent of the dental damage through x-ray imaging.

How Can Dentists Restore Gum Health?

Even if you suffer major damage to your jaw and gums due to gum disease, you might be able to receive dental implants. If a dentist notices this extensive harm to your smile after treating an infection, they might suggest further restorative dental solutions prior to tooth replacement.

For instance, they might refer you to a specialist for a gum graft. This adds tissue and strength to receding gums. They might also recommend a bone graft that builds structure in the jaw that could ultimately support an implant after the healing process.