Help... Advice on Mtx and Periodontal Cleaning... 😁

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Dennison72
Dennison72 Member Posts: 14
in Living with arthritis

Hello all. I need some advice... I have Rheumatoid arthritis and am currently taking Methotrexate and Hydroxychloroquine.. I've just been to the dentist as my gums are swollen and bleed a lot... RA can cause this too I'm told. 😔 I've been advised to have Periodontal cleaning which is fine but will Methotrexate cause my gums to not heal properly? Can I have antibiotics? I told the dentist I take this medication but she didn't seem to think this was of any concern.. Any advice from anyone who has gone through this will be appreciated as if untreated I can lose my teeth but am also conscious my immune system isn't what it should be... Thank you.. ☺️

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  • Baloo
    Baloo Member Posts: 405
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    I think I would rate regular toothbrushing as my biggest chore of the day. I have one of those electric toothbrushes with a timer and it feels like ages to reach the full time, and such a waste of time. I manage once a day, but I have found out I only have to skimp on the brushing for a few days before my gums will go sore and take a while to get back to scratch. I use the inter dental brushes as well because for some reason they get rid of the soreness faster.

  • debster
    debster Member Posts: 13
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    Hi , I'm a dental hygienist, I carry out 'periodontal cleaning ' I have never been concerned on patients on your medication, and patients rarely are given antibiotics for this. I agree with the previous comment the most important thing is your home care. If you are having this treatment it seems like you have gum disease caused by the build up of plaque bacteria. A good electric toothbrush twice a day for 2 minutes. Interdental cleaning inbetween all teeth 1x day with Interdental brushes as big as possible and floss only where they don't fit. You could use a 0.2% chlorhexadine gluconate mouthwash for a couple of weeks- please read the instructions. This should help your gums and their healing.

    The professional clean will remove all the hard build up of calculus above and below the gums that you can't remove.

    I hope this helps

  • Dennison72
    Dennison72 Member Posts: 14
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    @debster Oh thank you so much for this. I think I was worried as Methotrexate causes wounds etc to heal slower and I got worried my gums would not reattach and take weeks to heal. I also started to worry about infections from swallowing blood but that wasn't helped by my Google searches. 🙄

    I am using Corsodyl but it seems I will need the treatment and already feel a little better about it. Thank you ☺️

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