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There is an important reason dentists and dental health care professionals tell you to brush your teeth up and down to include brushing your gums. Up and down. Up and down. Brush over the gums. You’ve heard it all your life? Know why? It’s a daily task you can do to help avoid periodontal disease or gum disease.

Your teeth and gums are designed by nature to keep out bacterial infection. The hard enamel of your teeth and the dentine inside the enamel protect the living, fleshy pulp of the tooth. When healthy, your gums create a barrier around your teeth. When healthy or undamaged, harmful bacteria that causes infections cannot get into the living part of the teeth.

You know now a cavity in your tooth, a hole that breaks or wears into the enamel, can expose the inner, living part of the tooth? Hopefully you have never had to feel the pain of a tooth ache, abscess or root canal. But if you have, it all started with a bacteria entering this sealed and protected system to cause infection.

So, back to brushing your gums. When you do this, it stimulates the blood flow to the gums, helping to keep them healthy. If you brush and floss properly, you can avoid periodontal disease or disease of the gums. Diseased gums shrink and retract from the teeth, loosening and sometimes eliminating the natural barrier to disease provided by healthy gums.

We have numerous treatments for periodontal disease but, our goal should be to avoid periodontal disease by taking good care of your teeth and gums. Your daily home care is important and remember to keep your appointments for our professional cleaning for your teeth and gums.