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lilshawty18 · Dec 19, 2013, 04:55 PM

It's swollen at the top of my gums and it hurts on the to left of my gums and the bottom and I tried everything. What should I do?

smoothy · Dec 19, 2013, 05:18 PM

I would suggest visiting a dentist. Gun inflamations are sometimes a sign of gum disease, That is something that may take years under the care of a dentist to cure...

tickle · Dec 19, 2013, 07:13 PM

Actually no, it doesn't take years to cure, if in the case of serious periodontal disease where an entire section of gum is infected, that section is cut out eliminating the diseased portion to heal and grow new gum tissue. Expensive but efficient.

Otherwise, not much can be done if the gum disease has been allowed to accumulate over many years and the teeth are too far gone to restore.

ballengerb1 · Dec 19, 2013, 07:54 PM

You do need to see a periodontal dentist. Treament could be scaling and/or root planning plus medication. Surgury would be called for if this were an advanced case. They open a flap of your gum to get down deep to clean out the build up that cased the infection, then they lay the flap back and suture it.

smoothy · Dec 19, 2013, 08:16 PM

I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on the periodontal disease part tickle... been through that personally... it didn't require cutting anything out in my case but it did take 5 years of treatment every three months including deep scrapping and irrigation each visit, and daily pills to take. Could be longer for worse cases... could be less for less serious... but this is something I personally went through a number of years ago (actually not that many)... I completely beat it without any pernanent damage or any tooth loss.

If you don't go for at least twice yearly cleanings..it can sneak up on you and get really serious before you even get to the actual discomfort stage....(which incidently I never even came close to). But I still go every three months just to be certain it doesn't sneak back in.

As was explained to me...(I'm no medical professional) is the bacteria attach themselves and basically encrust themselves which actually makes it difficult to treat.....and why frequent and repeated intervention is required. Yes I did go to two different dental practices during that period and they both said the same exact thing (I changed midway due to being overbilled by an incompetant office manager not due to the dentist themselves)

tickle · Dec 20, 2013, 04:03 AM

Smoothy, I worked for a periodontal surgeon in Toledo OH for a number of years and assisted him in many surgeries so basically offering my advice from practical hands-on experience. You probably didn't have an extreme case that only required nominal work.

And yes, bellanger, you are accurate, If teeth can be saved root canals must be done.

smoothy · Dec 20, 2013, 05:45 AM

No my case wasn't extreme... I had zero discomfort.at the point mine was however it was a lot closer to a serious case than it was to a minor case..(was close to borderline severe). but it did still take over 5 years before it was cured none-the-less, and I do know some other people very well that dealt with this as well....only theirs was even worse, took far more work and cost significantly more as a result. One was to the point they had to have their teeth pulled as they were past the point of saving even most of them. This is not something that gets cured quickly, because by its very nature it actually resists treatment. And that was the point I was making. I also did get second opinions so more than just the two treating dentists were involved. All of whom were in agreement. Did so at first because of the work and cost involved....and later to be sure they weren't milking the job for all it was worth.

Anyone reading my comments on this can take what I said for what its worth or not.....it was just my own personal experience dealing with it. 5 years curing it and another 3 years now making sure it doesn't come back. I've managed to keep all of my own teeth thus far.....never even needed to have wisdom teeth removed. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can still say that many years from now.

However since the OP hasn't been to one yet and responded...it could be a number of other things. That wasn't the only possibility.

tickle · Dec 20, 2013, 05:56 AM

No it doesn't get cured quickly, that is why periodontal surgery is recommended; if person can spare the expense, it is actually micro surgery.

smoothy · Dec 20, 2013, 06:10 AM

One of the reasons I would strongly suggest people finding the money for annual dental visits. Even if they think everything is fine... this can sneak up on you and get really bad before you even know you have it... thats how it snuck up on me... I thought everything was fine and it wasn't. I made the cardinal sin of having a period of time in my life when I didn't go to the dentist every year even though I was brushing and flossing regularly..