Dentist

[UmmAbdullaah]

Recently went to the dentist, been told I have moderate heading towards advanced periodontitis! It's left me scared and petrified, as they said some teeth are loose too. Now I'm scared out of my wits with the thought of loosing my teeth. Help has anyone else had a similar experience?

Hi UmmAbdullaah, I understand hearing about Periodontitis can be quite distressing, but please try not to worry. You can work with your dentist and stop the problem in its tracks and not advance it further. My advice would be to stay on top of oral hygiene, I am sure you do a great job of it already, try to brush twice a day, especially before bedtime, rinse your mouth with a good brand of Mouth wash. If you don't already, try to floss every day. It's very important to keep the gums germs free. Get scaling/ cleaning done by the dentist. Hopefully this should stabilise the wobbly teeth (depending on the grade) and prevent you from losing them. There are measures in place to stabilise the teeth, and removing them is the last option..Hope I have appease you abit :)

Thank you annu, it's been a hard time since the visit, I had a panic attack at the appointment, since then my anxiety levels have hit the roof. I have read all sorts, and I just don't know where to turn to for support. It also costs so much too, which is another worry. For two weeks after the clean my teeth stopped bleeding, then after I started noticing pus coming out after my 2nd appointment for scaling, but there was no pain in my teeth. Now it bleeds whenever I brush my teeth. I did go back to the dentist when pus was coming out they said it's not normal but it was too early say anything because I only just had them cleaned. Needed to wait 3 months to see any real changes if any...? Is that sound advise? So sorry for the lengthy message

Sometimes you need antibiotics to deal with deep inflammation in your gums. Is your dentist good? Do you have faith in them?

What advice have you been given?

It should include using a mouthwash such as Corsidol daily.
Avoiding eating sweet foods between meals and of course sugary drinks.
Using an electric round toothbrush.
Using TeePee brushes between your teeth- better than floss.
Having a descale every 3 months.

Have you been told all of this?

Firstly don't panic, what's done is done and you can only do your best from now on. If you get the disease under control then you might never lose any teeth. I have had patients hang on to teeth with severe perio disease for their whole lives. If some teeth are loose you can consider things such a splinting further down the line.

The most important thing with perio disease is excellent oral hygiene. Brushing 2-3x a day every day, right up to your gums getting your brush between your gums and your teeth. I would recommend tepe brushes 2x a day as well. Sometimes disclosing tablets can be useful because we think we all think brush perfectly but everyone misses bits (including dentists!) and it shows up areas we miss.

Normal mouthwash is irrelevant really . Corsodyl (or chlorhexidine corsodyl is the brand) is the only mouthwash which is good, I would advice dipping your tepe brushes in corsodyl 1 x a day but not using is as a mouthwash regularly as it can stain your teeth. If you aren't bothered about staining use it as a mouthwash as it can be good.

The other thing to think about is if you smoke or if you are diabetic. Both of these can lead to perio disease.

After a course of deep cleaning it takes about 3 months to see any improvement or to see if it has been effective. You want to give your gums time to heal and re going back in just traumatises them in the healing process.

If you have excellent oral hygiene and regular deep cleans and you still have lots of active disease that's when you might consider other course of action, maybe even visiting a specialist (although this will be costly). Antibiotics are used very rarely, only when there is some kind of acute infection as they don't work long term.

Pus can be normal after a deep clean, there was probably pus their before but the clean has given it a route to drain. Pus itself can be fairly common or normal in people with periodontitis but you don't really want it. I wouldn't worry about it in that time frame but if it persists at the 3 month stage then I would be more concerned.

Don't worry op, you can get this under control. It will take work but it's definitely possible! There's always things that can be done and losing teeth is absolutely a last resort

Hi yes I've been told all the above but she said to keep using salt water to rinse my mouth and not mouthwash.

Thank you so much for the sound advise. I've been freaking out. I've had blood test done to see if I was diabetic, but that came back normal. I'm cleaning regularly, and been asked to rinse my mouth with salt water, frequently.

I have also read a lot on oil pulling with coconut oil squishing it around the mouth for 10-20mins, is that ok and safe to do?

Really sound advise given by the other posters. With regards to oil pulling, there isn't alot of evidence that suggests its effectiveness. It will not do you any harm, however I imagine swishing oil in the mouth for 10-20 mins is not an easy feat. It is better to use corsodyl Mouthwash, which is antiseptic and you just have to swish around for 2-3 mins.
It's good that you are staying on top of cleaning, you are doing every right, hopefully you'll start to see some improvements soon.
If you don't mind me asking op, how old are you?
Furthermore, keep doing warm salty water rinses, they are equally good.
I wish you the best Op, stay strong and you'll conquer this and keep all ur pearly whites!! xxx

Salt water is also good and doesnt stain teeth like corsodyl. Glad the diabetes test came back normal

There's very little evidence to suggesting oil pulling does anything, it's safe but pointless so I wouldn't bother, people also can end up replacing normal toothbrushing with this practice so I would generally advise to avoid. More important to spend the time cleaning your teeth well (and not thinking about your teeth at all!).

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, it does take time and at the 3 month recall you will know more.

Hi annu I'm so sorry I haven't checked this in ages so didn't see Ur message. I'm 32 years old. X

Hi dish,

Thank you for the advise, the pus is still a continuous thing every other day or sometimes everyday. So very hard to forget about my teeth. My husband telling me the same thing to stop thinking about it, but now that I'm closely monitoring it, any little change freaks me out. I have to stop myself from calling the dentist over any little things. Just need to bare it with patience until the end of the month when I go for my 3 month check up.

Been under the weather for a whole month now, so I guess that's adding to the problem. Really pray non of u guys have to ever go through the mental torture of dental issues, it's making life very depressing and sometimes I don't even have the will power to eat....😭