Edmonton is home to a variety of medical professionals who have dedicated their careers to maintaining a healthy and thriving population across disciplines, all while helping to innovate approaches to physical and mental well-being.
Staying informed on where to look among the consistently growing field of Edmonton pros who specialize in ailments from your toes (podiatrists) to the top of your head (trichologists) and everything in between can help ensure you know where to turn when you need a hand with your health.
For many of us, one of the greatest fears we harbour when it comes to our physical appearance is losing our teeth. But we don’t tend to realize just how important our teeth really are to our overall well-being until we’re actually faced with losing them.
Devoted to maintaining and restoring the health and function of the structures that support teeth — specifically jawbones and gums — periodontists are often the last line of defense in helping patients keep their teeth, and not end up in dentures.
Periodontists represent a niche group of dental specialists who have undergone additional university education and accreditation to manage and treat complex periodontal and dental implant cases and complications.
The services offered by periodontists are varied. They range from treating inflammatory periodontal disease through surgical and non-surgical means, treating gum recession, rebuilding lost jaw bone with bone grafting, and replacing missing or failing teeth with dental implants. The goal of periodontists is to help patients maintain healthy and strong foundations around their teeth and dental implants for life.
As treatment largely comes as a result of complexities encountered by other dental practitioners, a periodontist’s work is collaborative. Periodontists work closely with general practitioners as part of a team to manage overall patient dental needs, and with other dental specialists as consultants in managing and treating complex treatments.
While periodontal treatment largely takes place within the mouth, it can also benefit a patient’s overall health — researchers have identified important links between periodontal disease and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, infection of prosthetic joints, pregnancy complications, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and certain types of cancers.
As periodontists see it, the mouth is a portal of entry into the human body, and, for the sake of a patient’s overall well-being, it’s vital we do everything we can to keep that gate healthy and strong!
Ask your dentist for a referral to a periodontist, or visit ab.greatgums.ca to learn more.
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