The key to keeping a bright, healthy smile throughout adulthood is to practice proper oral hygiene. Adults can get cavities, as well as gum disease that can lead to serious problems. Throughout your adult life, it’s important to continue to:

Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste to remove dental plaque – the sticky film on your teeth that’s the main cause of tooth decay and inflammation of the gums, called gingivitis.

Floss daily to remove plaque from between your teeth and under your gum line, before it can harden into tartar. Once tartar has formed it can only be removed by a dental professional during a dental cleaning.

Limit sugary or starchy foods, especially sticky snacks. The more often you snack between meals, the more chances you give bacteria to create the acids that attack your tooth enamel.

Visit Dr. Gabot-Heyman’s office regularly for professional cleanings and checkups. We’ll set you up on a schedule and contact you when its time.

Non-Surgical Periodontal Treatment

We believe periodontal health should be achieved in the least invasive and most cost-effective manner. This is often accomplished through non-surgical periodontal treatment.

Non-surgical periodontal treatment does have its limitations. When it does not achieve periodontal health, surgery may be indicated to restore periodontal health.

Scaling and Root Planing

Scaling and root planing is a careful cleaning of the root surfaces to remove plaque and calculus (tartar) from deep periodontal pockets and to smooth the tooth root to remove bacterial toxins. Scaling and root planing is often followed by adjunctive therapy such as local delivery antimicrobials and host modulation, as needed on a case-by-case basis.

After scaling and root planing, many patients do not require any further active treatment. However, the majority of patients will require ongoing maintenance therapy to sustain health.