My Family Dental Periodontics
Gum Disease and Periodontal Treatment
Treated at all six clinics, with a registered Specialist Periodontist consulting at Kirwan and Bohle Plains.
Gum disease is the leading reason adults lose teeth, and it is usually painless until it is advanced. Treatment starts with measuring what is actually happening around each tooth rather than a general clean, and it is available at all six of our clinics.
Specialist Periodontist
Dr Sudeep Singh, Kirwan and Bohle Plains
Charted, not guessed
Pocket depths measured and recorded
Grafting available
Gum grafting and crown lengthening
All six clinics
Treatment locally, specialist care in the group
More adults lose teeth to gum disease than to decay, and almost nobody sees it coming, because it does not hurt. Bleeding when you brush is the signal most people talk themselves out of. It is worth not talking yourself out of it.
Two Stages, and the Difference Matters
Gingivitis is inflammation of the gum. The gums are red, puffy and bleed when brushed, and no bone has been lost yet. Remove the plaque and calculus, improve the cleaning at home, and it generally settles.
Periodontitis is what it becomes if it is left. The inflammation reaches the bone that holds the teeth in, and that bone is lost. Pockets form between gum and tooth, and they are deeper than a toothbrush can reach, so the process feeds itself. Teeth become loose, drift, and eventually go.
Be clear about the difference: bone lost to periodontitis does not simply grow back. Treatment stops the process and keeps what is there, and started early enough that is nearly everything. Started late it is still worth doing, but nobody should be telling you it will be put back the way it was.
What Treatment Actually Looks Like
- A periodontal chart. The depth of the pocket around every tooth, measured and recorded, with x-rays to see the bone level. Without that, treatment is guesswork and there is no way to tell later whether it worked.
- Cleaning below the gum line. Removing the calculus and bacteria out of the pockets, with the area numbed, usually across more than one appointment.
- A review. Re-charting after healing to see which pockets responded and which did not, because that is what decides the next step.
- Surgical treatment where it is needed, including gum grafting where recession has exposed roots, and crown lengthening.
- Maintenance. Once you have had periodontitis, the six-month interval is often not enough, and the maintenance visits are what hold the result.
A Specialist Inside the Group
Dr Sudeep Singh is a registered Specialist Periodontist and consults at our Kirwan and Bohle Plains clinics. He holds a Graduate Diploma in Dental Implantology from JCU and a Doctor of Clinical Dentistry in Periodontics from Griffith University.
Gum treatment itself is done at all six clinics. What having him in the group means is that a case needing specialist periodontal care is seen inside the practice rather than referred to a waiting list in another city.
Why It Comes Before the Other Work
Gums and bone are the foundation everything else sits on, and treating them first is not a delay to the work you actually came in for.
- Implants need healthy bone to go into and healthy gum around them. Untreated gum disease is one of the reasons implants fail.
- Dentures rest on the ridge, and bone that is still being lost changes the fit under a denture that was made to sit on it.
- Braces move teeth through bone, so the bone has to be healthy enough to take it. This is the usual reason adult orthodontic treatment starts with the gums.
- Veneers and crowns sit at the gum line, and a receding gum will show the margin in a few years.
Where
- My Family Dental Townsville (Kirwan)
- My Family Dental Bohle Plains
- My Family Dental Ingham
- My Family Dental Innisfail
- My Family Dental Bowen
- My Family Dental Emerald
Important: How gum disease responds to treatment varies between individuals and depends on the stage, your general health and home care. Any dental treatment carries risks. Assessment requires an examination, charting and x-rays, and fees are provided in a written quote. Seek advice appropriate to your circumstances from a qualified health practitioner.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Often you do not, which is the problem. Bleeding when you brush is the common early sign and the one most people decide is normal. It is not. Later signs are gums that have receded, persistent bad breath, teeth that feel loose or that have started to drift apart. Gum disease is usually painless until it is advanced, so it is found at check-ups rather than noticed at home.
The early stage, gingivitis, generally settles once the plaque and calculus are removed and the cleaning at home improves. The later stage, periodontitis, involves loss of the bone that holds the teeth in, and that bone does not grow back on its own. What treatment does at that point is halt the process and keep what you have, which is worth a great deal but is not the same as undoing it. Anyone promising to reverse advanced gum disease is overselling.
It starts with measuring: charting the depth of the pockets around each tooth, and x-rays to see the bone. Then a thorough clean below the gum line, usually over more than one appointment and with the area numbed, followed by a review to see how the gums have responded. Some cases need surgical treatment or grafting, and some need ongoing maintenance cleans more often than every six months.
Yes. Dr Sudeep Singh is a registered Specialist Periodontist and consults at our Kirwan and Bohle Plains clinics. Gum treatment is available at all six clinics, and cases that need specialist care can be seen by him rather than referred out of the group.
Because both sit on the same foundation. Implants need healthy bone and healthy gum around them, and gum disease is one of the reasons implants fail. A denture rests on the ridge, and continuing bone loss changes how it fits. Treating the gums first is not a delay to that work, it is what makes it last.
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