You'll also have to practice good oral hygiene at home and try to reduce other risk factors for gum disease, like quitting smoking or eating fewer sweets. Your dentist may explain that the goal of treatment is to stop the progress of the disease, or at least to control it. Other goals are to leave the tissues around your teeth in a state that can be easily managed and, if possible, to restore the supporting structures, which include bone, gum tissue, and connective tissue. At this point, you'll probably have two questions for your dentist. Treatment works best before there is severe damage to the tissue that attaches the teeth to the bone and before teeth are missing.
Treatment also appears to help nonsmokers more than smokers.
It may even help lower other health risks. For example, research has found that treating gum disease helped people with diabetes. It lowered their blood sugar levels and reduced their need for insulin. Still, despite the best efforts, some patients with periodontal disease do not respond to treatment at all. You can expect some discomfort from periodontal treatment, but it will probably be much less than you fear.