If you have gum disease, then there’s a good chance that you’re no stranger to a moderate amount of pain and discomfort.
While early stage gum disease, also known as gingivitis, is often painless, more advanced stages of this disease can be associated with varying degrees of discomfort. While treatment for gum disease is designed to reduce your symptoms and help you start to feel better, a little bit of achiness following it is to be expected.
Three Tips for Minimizing your Post-Treatment Pain
Depending on how advanced your gum disease was, we may advise a variety of treatment options for you to help stop the progression of your disease. The more severe your periodontal disease was, the more intensive the treatment would be.
For simple gingivitis, all you may need to do is improve your oral hygiene. Brushing twice a day, flossing, and using an antibacterial mouthwash can work wonders on mild gum disease. But for patients with a more severe disease, we may recommend a root scaling and planing, which does require local anesthesia to numb the area during treatment. Extremely severe cases of gum disease may mandate pocket reduction surgery.
Regardless the degree of gum disease that you had, you can’t go wrong with these three at-home methods to keep your pain levels down:
| • | Hot Compresses: These are very good for soothing aching mouths. Use as needed, and hold them gently against your cheek to help reduce your pain. |
| • | Cold Compresses: If the pain and swelling is bothersome, a cold compress can help. Be careful to not apply ice directly to your face, and remove the compress every minute to avoid frostbite. |
| • | OTC NSAIDS: You can take over-the-counter pain relievers (like ibuprofen) if your pain bothers you, but avoid aspirin, as it can make any bleeding worse. |
Our goal is to help you heal from your gum disease with the least amount of pain possible. While we take steps to keep you comfortable during the procedure, a nominal amount of post-treatment discomfort is to be expected.
If you continue to experience any discomfort after your procedure, do not hesitate to call us. We are more than happy to assist you every step of the way, from pre-treatment to aftercare. Please give our compassionate and skilled office a call today to schedule your dental exam and allow us to help keep your teeth and gums healthy and beautiful!
