Treatment and maintenance for gum disease.

Healthy gums attach tightly to your teeth. When plaque and tartar build up below the gum line, the body’s inflammatory response pulls the gums away from the teeth, creating pockets where more bacteria collect. Over time, those bacteria attack the bone supporting the teeth — and the bone, once lost, doesn’t come back.

The first sign is usually bleeding gums when you brush or floss. By the time teeth feel loose or breath turns chronically bad, the disease is advanced. Catching it early matters.

Initial treatment is usually scaling and root planing — a careful, deeper cleaning that removes plaque and tartar from below the gum line and smooths the root surfaces so the gums can re-attach. Stubborn cases sometimes get a targeted antibiotic (ARESTIN) placed directly into the pocket. After active treatment, you switch to a periodontal maintenance schedule — cleanings every three or four months instead of six — to keep the disease from progressing.

Done consistently, periodontal maintenance keeps your teeth and the bone around them. Skipped, the disease comes back. We’ll be honest about where you are and what the right cadence looks like for your case.