Topics

1. Understanding Periodontal Disease, Gingivitis And Their Treatment

Have you ever been told that you have or may get peri­odon­tal dis­ease, yet did not quite under­stand what peri­odon­tal dis­ease is? Ever won­der what the dif­fer­ence is between peri­odon­tal dis­ease and another com­monly used term of gin­givi­tis? The answers to those ques­tions will increase your aware­ness of two of the most com­monly found con­di­tions in man.

2. The Goals Of Treatment For Periodontal Disease

In topic #1, what peri­odon­tal dis­ease and gin­givi­tis are, what the dif­fer­ence between the two con­di­tions is and some other aspects of peri­odon­tal dis­ease were dis­cussed. Imag­ine that you are in your dentist’s office, have been told you have peri­odon­tal dis­ease and it needs to be treated. Do you know what treat­ing peri­odon­tal dis­ease or gin­givi­tis means? Is it just sim­ply a clean­ing or is there more to its treatment?

3. The Team Concept To Treating Periodontal Disease

In topic #2, what it means to treat peri­odon­tal dis­ease and gin­givi­tis in terms of achiev­ing goals was dis­cussed. Now we will begin to dis­cuss how the goals of peri­odon­tal treat­ment are achieved. Can the den­tal office alone suc­cess­fully treat peri­odon­tal dis­ease for the long term?

4. Members Of The Dental Team Treating Periodontal Disease

In topic #3, the most impor­tant team mem­ber in the treat­ment of peri­odon­tal dis­ease and gin­givi­tis, the patient, was dis­cussed. Now the other team mem­bers will be discussed.

5. The Goals Of Periodontal Treatment In More Detail — Part 1

In top­ics #3 and #4, the Team Con­cept and the team mem­bers needed to detect and treat peri­odon­tal dis­ease and gin­givi­tis was dis­cussed. In this topic, we will dis­cuss the goals of peri­odon­tal treat­ment in more detail and relate those goals to the team member’s roles in achiev­ing those goals.

6. The Goals Of Periodontal Treatment In More Detail – Part 2

In arti­cle #5, the first goal of peri­odon­tal dis­ease and gin­givi­tis treat­ment, aware­ness of the dis­ease process and recog­ni­tion of its warn­ing signs was dis­cussed. Other goals of peri­odon­tal treat­ment and the team mem­bers’ roles in achiev­ing those goals will now be discussed.

7. The Goals Of Periodontal Treatment In More Detail – Part 3

In topic # 7, the remain­ing goals of revers­ing the effects of past peri­odon­tal dis­ease as much as pos­si­ble and prepar­ing the mouth of other types of den­tal treat­ment includ­ing the team mem­bers’ roles in achiev­ing these goals will be discussed.

8. Periodontal Procedures – Part 1

In topic #7, a vari­ety of den­tal pro­ce­dures used to remove the cause and local con­tribut­ing fac­tors of peri­odon­tal dis­ease and when pos­si­ble to regen­er­ate lost bone and / or gum tis­sue was briefly men­tioned. Each of these pro­ce­dures has its indi­ca­tions, antic­i­pated results, lim­i­ta­tions, suc­cess rates and poten­tial risks or com­pli­ca­tions. Now these pro­ce­dures will be dis­cussed in more detail.

9. Periodontal Procedures – Part 2

In topic #8, the den­tal pro­ce­dure of scal­ing ( clean­ing ) to remove plaque and cal­cu­lus above the gums and in shal­low spaces below the gums was dis­cussed. Now den­tal pro­ce­dures for remov­ing plaque and cal­cu­lus in mod­er­ate and deep spaces below the gums will be discussed.

10. Benefits Of Treating Periodontal Disease And Tooth Loss

In past top­ics, the nature, pre­ven­tion and treat­ment of gin­givi­tis and peri­odon­tal dis­ease were dis­cussed. The over­all ben­e­fits or goals to pre­vent and treat these dis­eases is to keep one’s teeth in a state of com­fort, health and func­tion for hope­fully the life­time of a per­son, to pre­vent the unde­sir­able con­se­quences of lost teeth and to reduce the risks of asso­ci­ated other dis­eases or con­di­tions that can affect the gen­eral health of a per­son. Teeth may be lost due to peri­odon­tal dis­ease, caries, root frac­tures, cost, trauma and other rea­sons.

11. Methods To Replace Missing Teeth — Removable Prosthesis

In the topic #10, the ben­e­fits of pre­ven­tion and treat­ment of peri­odon­tal dis­ease, the unfavourable con­se­quences of “bad” tooth loss and the three basic meth­ods of tooth replace­ment was dis­cussed. In this topic, we will go into more details about one of the three basic meth­ods of replac­ing lost teeth. Each method of tooth replace­ment has its own advan­tages and disadvantages.

12. Methods To Replace Missing Teeth — Bridges

In the last topic, the advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of replac­ing miss­ing teeth by remove­able par­tial or full den­tures was dis­cussed. In this topic, the advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of replac­ing miss­ing teeth by fixed bridges and their vari­a­tions will be dis­cussed. First a very brief dis­cus­sion will fol­low for those peo­ple who are not famil­iar with bridges.

13. Methods To Replace Missing Teeth — Implants And Their Restorations

In the last topic, the option of fixed bridges, includ­ing their advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages to replace miss­ing teeth was dis­cussed. In this topic, the option of using den­tal implants and their restora­tions to replace miss­ing teeth will be dis­cussed. Also the advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages of the implant option will be dis­cussed. For many peo­ple, the implant option is the best option for replac­ing miss­ing teeth.

14. The Relation Between Periodontal Disease And General Health

In the last topic, the option of using implants and their restora­tions, includ­ing their advan­tages and dis­ad­van­tages, to replace miss­ing teeth was dis­cussed. In this topic, the rela­tion between untreated advanced peri­odon­tal dis­ease and one’s over­all health will be dis­cussed. Many peo­ple do not even real­ize there is even a rela­tion between peri­odon­tal dis­ease and over­all health and do not real­ize what that rela­tion is.