Your Health and your Dentist

It is really strange these days, it seems like over half of the continuing education I have taken lately has more to do with a person's general health, than just their teeth. And that isn't a bad thing!

This past weekend our Academy of Comprehensive Esthetics group had its annual meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. (Why we go to a great resort and stay indoors for three days is beyond me!) The topic of this meeting was The Relationship between Periodontal Disease and Systemic Disease, and the evidence is really getting scary.

There are three points I want you to remember, and this will be on the test!

1. Many of the disease causing bacteria and viruses we see and suffer from, have to have a way to get into your body. If your gums are leaking (bleedy), then that means there is a wound there, and it is easy for these bugs to get into your bloodstream. The main thing is to eliminate "leaky gums" so that pathological organisms can't get there!

2. Many chronic systemic diseases that we thought we knew the causes for, now are thought to be the result of bacteria or viruses. One speaker suggested that today, probably 20% of cancers were generally attributed to viral attack, but he thought in five years that would probably be 50%. Just think, half of all cancers caused by viruses! One of great concern today is the HPV, or human papilloma virus, which is the cause of much cervical cancer, and many oral cancers today in young people. But research is also showing us relationships between oral infections and heart disease, diabetes, and stroke incidence!

3. Today, we can test your mouth earlier with a painless bacterial DNA test to see which bacteria are there, and also what the relative bacterial load is there for that species. That will tell the dentist what antibiotic to use and what treatment regimen would be most likely to work.

Dentistry has been really guilty of ignoring this disease, and often not treating it until actual bone damage had occurred. Today, we are focusing on full time health, prevention of early disease, and the systemic health that occurs when someone is infection free.

If you have any question about this, please don't hesitate to call and ask for our help. 903-581-1777.

Here is what to look for with periodontal health:

1. Gums that bleed - anytime. Just like the skin on your hand, your gums shouldn't bleed when you brush or floss. Ever.

2. Persistant bad breath. It is an infection, and you know how that can smell!

3. A bad taste in your mouth- also the result of an infection.

4. Loose teeth are a bad sign, that means that bone has been lost and it is awfully difficult to get it back, if it is possible at all.

Websites you might want to peruse:

http://www.tyler-smiles.com

http://www.ada.org/public/topics/periodontal_diseases.asp

Hope you have a happy Thanksgiving season!

Heart Attacks and your heart

This was just posted on MSNBC this morning, and it reiterates something we have been saying- the health of your gums has a lot to do with the overall health of your body! The full story is at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29990146/

WASHINGTON - People with the germiest mouths are the most likely to have heart attacks, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

A study that compared heart attack victims to healthy volunteers found the heart patients had higher numbers of bacteria in their mouths, the researchers said.

Their findings add to a growing body of evidence linking oral hygiene with overall health.

Story continues below ↓

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Oelisoa Andriankaja and colleagues at the University at Buffalo in New York were trying to find if any particular species of bacteria might be causing heart attacks.

Their tests on 386 men and women who had suffered heart attacks and 840 people free of heart trouble showed two types — Tannerella forsynthesis and Prevotella intermedia — were more common among the heart attack patients.

But more striking, the people who had the most bacteria of all types in their mouths were the most likely to have had heart attacks, they told a meeting of the International Association of Dental Research in Miami.

"The message here is that even though some specific periodontal pathogens have been found to be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease, the total bacterial pathogenic burden is more important than the type of bacteria," Andriankaja, now at the University of Puerto Rico, said in a statement.

"In other words, the total number of 'bugs' is more important than one single organism."

Doctors are not sure how bacteria may be linked with heart attacks but several studies have shown associations between gum disease and heart disease. Bacteria may set off general inflammation that in turn causes blood to clot.

Tooth Whitening

We get tons of questions all the time about tooth bleaching, tooth whitening (same thing) and the like. We have been doing this for a long time and know a little bit about it.

Tooth bleaching has really changed how dentistry works, because of its popularity. The lightest shade of natural teeth (we call it a B1 shade) used to be the lightest shade we would ever use for porcelain crowns or tooth colored fillings, and today, it is too dark for 80% of the treatment we provide!

Anyway, what happens when you bleach a tooth is that the peroxide solution that is the tooth whitening actually gets between the crystals of the tooth enamel and lifts off the old stains and debris that gets deeper than can be reached with a toothbrush or our cleanings. This turns the enamel (the outer hard shell of the tooth) to a lighter and more translucent appearance. 

When someone has a discoloration of the dentin, or inside part of the tooth, bleaching often won't help, and sometimes even makes it worse, by making the enamel more translucent. For instance, when someone has tetracycline stain, bleaching often doesn't do any good at all, since the problem is in the dentin.

You have probably heard of Zoom bleaching, or seen the places at the mall or at Sam's where they are doing instant (supposedly) bleaching. From my perspective, the Zoom and Britesmile sort of in-office bleachings are sort of a waste of time. You essentially are getting some immediate whitening, mostly from dehydration, and in order to get the final result you want, you are going to have to do the tray bleaching in addition.  It is sort of bittersweet for us to realize this, since we HAVE a Zoom light, but we just felt it wasn't fair to our patients to charge what we need to charge and not get the results we need and want.

Tooth bleaching has a couple of downsides- one is sensitivity. There are some special toothpastes that really can help with this, one is a high fluoride toothpast and another is called MI paste. Both seem to cut down on sensitivity greatly. You need to use these for a week or two before starting your bleaching.

The other downside is when you have already have some significant dentistry done, and you want to bleach your teeth. Your natural teeth will bleach, but any crowns, veneers or fillings won't change colors at all. We always recommend someone bleach before they have any cosmetic treatment.

As it is, tooth bleaching is inexpensive, effective and easy- what's not to like about that?

Have a good day!

Rick

Blogging about your health

I have just decided to start a blog, to help people to understand how their dental office can be an important contributor to their own health.

My thinking is that today, we really don't have much health care, we have disease care. We wait until there are symptoms or indications and THEN we go to the doctor, we start taking medications, and our life quality often goes downhill. Personally, I think that Americans are way overmedicated  and under-motivated to take personal responsibility for their health.

Your dental office should be and can be the source of some fabulous health information and motivation (I firmly believe we all know how to live better than we actually do!).  But since the dentist gets to see most of his patients much more often than a physician does, we are in a position to catch many disease states really early, before medical interventions are necessary.

We will talk about all of these in depth in future issues, but your dentist should be able to diagnose sleep apnea, periodontal infections, oral cancers, high blood pressure, chronic headache and neckache- so many things, and help you to find a cause and a solution. In the future, we really don't know what sort of changes might be happening in health  care, but personally, I feel I have to take care of my own health, to take charge of what happens to me.

Please feel free to join this conversation!

Regards

Rick