Hi everyone!

When you see me as a new patient for an initial examination or when you visit our hygienists to get your teeth cleaned you will have the health of your gums evaluated by using a simple and relatively painless test called a periodontal chart or periochart.Most likely you will hear either me or your hygienist calling out a series of 6 numbers per tooth.What we are doing is measuring, in millimeters (mm), the depth of the cuff of gum tissue around each tooth.This depth is the difference in height between the level of your gumline and the point at which the gum actually attaches to your tooth.2-3 mm is considered healthy and physiologic and anything over 5 mm usually indicates that the bone that supports your tooth has begun to be destroyed by disease.To give you something to compare with, a pencil eraser is typically about 5 mm in diameter. The diagram at the bottom of the blog explains it better, but here is a little more detail on what measuring the “pockets” mean: [Read more…]