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Gum Disease Treatment

What you need to know about gum disease treatment but were probably never told!

Are you one of the 50 million or more adult Americans who suffer from periodontal gum disease? Have you noticed bleeding gums, or have you been told that you may have gum disease? We're going to try and shed some light on this common problem and discuss the gum disease treatment methods available to help you conquer it for good.

What is gum disease?

Gum disease is an infection. I stress the word infection because it is the key to its treatment, and it is often the most overlooked fact about gum disease. The dictionary defines an infection as “invasion and multiplication of microorganisms (germs) in body tissues.” The key word here is invasion. The germs in the case of gum disease are bacteria, and the invasion happens at the crevice between your gum and the tooth. Only with gum disease treatment can the damage be reversed.

Learning more about gum disease The human tooth is primarily supported by the jaw bone, and to a lesser degree by the gum. The gum attaches to the tooth and forms a small crevice called the sulcus. As the bacteria damage the gum attachment, the sulcus deepens forming what we call a pocket. Bacteria are tiny living micro-organisms that live in the mouth. The mouth in fact is a perfect incubator for bacteria. It is warm, moist and full of food. Bacteria are extremely small, and are very apt at hiding in crevices and tiny imperfections of the lining of the mouth and the teeth.

Where do these bacteria come from?

Well most of the Bacteria that colonize the mouth originally get passed form the mother to the infant (thanks mom!). In fact studies have shown that mothers and infants have almost identical bacteria make up in their mouth. These bacteria can also be transmitted from other family members or significant others.

What harm can Bacteria do?

Most bacteria that live in the mouth are either harmless, or beneficial, but there is a group of them that are up to no good. These harmful Bacteria are able to produce disease.

Usually the body can keep these bacteria under control, but there is a battle between the bacteria and the body at all times. The body has the upper hand if it is young, healthy, and if it is not overwhelmed by the shear number of these bacteria. If the Body gets tired, stressed, old or overwhelmed the bacteria get the upper hand and invade deeper and deeper, and destroy more and more of the body.

Are some people genetically susceptible to gum disease (is it hereditary)?

The human immune system is geared to attack and eliminate any foreign invaders that try to invade the body. Some people are at a genetic disadvantage, because their immune system is not totally honed to fight the bacteria that cause gum disease. Some people’s immune reaction to the bacteria is too mild, so the bacteria easily win the battle, and gum disease ensues. Either way, gum disease treatment is critical to offset and reverse the damage.

While other people the immune cells show an exaggerated response to the bacteria, and release so many munitions to eliminate the bacteria, that some of the munitions destroy the body as well as the bacteria (friendly fire casualty), and again gum disease and destruction ensues. Without gum disease treatment, the response can either be slow or exaggerated, but the final outcome is the presence of the bacteria that causes the destruction of the gum attachment and bone surrounding the teeth.

So if you are genetically susceptible, are your teeth doomed?

What we have found through multiple scientific experiments is that even if some one is genetically susceptible to gum disease, but does not harbor the harmful bacteria they will never develop gum disease. This was a very significant finding and is very good news for the million of folks who are at a genetic disadvantage fighting gum disease and seeking gum disease treatment.

To fight this particular infection called gum disease we have to eliminate the harmful bacteria with gum disease treatment. Eliminating the bacteria the right way and on a prolonged basis is the secret and basis to treating gum disease and this has eluded people up to now.

First of all it took scientists decades of intensive research to find out which bacteria from the millions that occupy the mouth cause gum disease. To successfully treat gum disease we only need to eliminate the harmful bacteria. It is not needed or desirable to eliminate all the bacteria in the mouth; because most of them are beneficial, and if they are all eliminated other opportunistic organisms will take over.

After these bacteria were identified, it took years to come up with an easy way to culture them (to grow them in the lab) so that we could study them. And then it took more time to figure out successful ways of eliminating them.

What we have learned about these bacteria is that through years of evolution they have developed real neat evasion mechanisms. Almost all of the harmful bacteria are anaerobic (means they live in the absence of oxygen). So they hide in the deep crevices of the gums, where they cannot be brushed or flossed away. And once they are there they form a mineral deposit on the teeth called tartar or calculus that stick to the teeth, and cannot be budged by a tooth brush or floss.

Tarter is extremely porous, and cavernous, so it literally has millions and millions of caves and valleys for hiding the bacteria. To top it off the bacteria form something called biofilm. Biofilm is a very sticky, gooey sludge that is very difficult to disrupt or penetrate. Antibiotics are totally ineffective against undisrupted biofilm, and that is one of the reasons why gum disease does not respond effectively to stand alone antibiotic treatment.

First of all the antibiotic does not penetrate the biofilm, and the bacteria at the center of the mass are completely sheltered and secondly antibiotics cannot and will not remove tartar. Unless tartar is removed the gums will not heal (it is like having a splinter in your finger; it will not heal until the splinter is removed). Lastly some of these bacteria are resistant to conventional antibiotics, and even if you could get them with a direct hit, it would bounce off them.

Why are the common methods of gum disease treatment flawed?

The corner stone of conventional gum disease treatment has always been to reduce the number of total bacteria in the patient’s mouth. The patient is taught to brush better, to floss better, and to get their teeth professionally cleaned every 3 to four months. Again this method of gum disease treatment basically reduces the amount of total bacteria in the mouth. It does nothing to address the specific harmful bacteria that cause the infection.

If this method fails then a conventional therapy will call for the mechanical removal of the plaque and the tartar through professional cleaning (often called “deep cleaning” or scaling and root planning). This only reduces the tartar and the total bacteria, but does not completely eliminate the harmful bacteria because they are not being singled out. So the body gets an upper hand for a while, until the harmful bacteria reorganize, re-proliferate and re-invade.

Another traditional and often used method for gum disease treatment is gum surgery. Gum surgery accomplishes a few goals; it allows for better access to the root surfaces of the teeth so that the plaque and the tartar can be seen better and removed better. It also allows for surgical reduction of the “pockets” around the teeth. The idea behind pocket reduction is that you give the bacteria less hiding places to cause their damage. Gum surgery also allows for regenerative procedures to re-grow the lost bone around the teeth.

While the intention behind gum surgery for gum disease treatment is good, if it is done without regard to the exact type of bacteria we are fighting it too will fail over time. Again these harmful bacteria are very crafty at hiding and attacking when the body is slightly weak.

Introducing Periodontal Microtherapy™

At Atlas Dental, we have the right solution to gum disease treatment, through Periodontal Microtherapy.

Periodontal Microtherapy is a tailor made treatment that involves several very precise steps that allows for the elimination of the harmful gum disease causing bacteria that are present in your mouth. The idea is to treat this infection by eliminating the exact bacteria that are causing it, and not by blind faith.

To tailor the gum disease treatment we first analyze a sample of the bacteria in your mouth to identify the exact bacteria that are causing your gum disease through DNA testing and anaerobic culturing. Once we have identified the Bacteria then we check their susceptibility to different antibiotics and then choose the exact combination of antibiotics that are effective for eliminating the bacteria.

But remember just taking the antibiotics will not eliminate these bacteria. We need to eliminate the tartar, and also disrupt their protective biofilm. We have a precise method for accomplishing the above in an easy and painless way.

We use a special instrument for removing the tartar with gentle ultrasonic sound waves, and we disrupt the biofilm with a special rinse that is extremely effective and safe. Then we apply a special disinfectant to the roots of the teeth, and all the other hiding places of the bacteria. We will then prescribe appropriate antibiotics to eliminate the rest of the bacteria. Once the tartar is removed, and the biofilm is disrupted, the bacteria are easy pickings for the disinfectant, and the antibiotics.

We then give you an easy to follow home care instructions that will keep you from getting re-infected with these bacteria. Sometimes we choose to do another analysis of the bacteria in the mouth to make sure that we have eliminated the harmful bacteria.

We have found that this regimen for gum disease treatment is extremely conservative, and successful in treating periodontal infections and disease. It is the precise application of science for treating a disease that has been menacing mankind for thousands of years. While most other doctors are trying their honest best to provide gum disease treatement, they fight a see-saw battle that can be at times too aggressive and mostly ineffective.

Most doctors treat their patients based on what they learned in dental school, and the continuing education classes they attend thereafter. Unfortunately the training at all dental schools are not identical. What is worse is that schools usually teach the conventional way of treating gum disease.

Some schools are very conservative, and teach their students that gum disease treatment can only be performed by cleaning and scraping the teeth repeatedly, while other schools are very aggressive, and preach treatment through aggressive periodontal surgery. The correct approach is to treat you the patient based on your specific problems, and your specific bacteria. You cannot have a cookie cutter approach to treating patients all the same way.

A lack of gum disease treatment can have severe consequences; it will destroy the bone support around your teeth, which will result in loss of your teeth, it will result in persistent bad breath and there is also a lot of evidence that links gum disease to heart disease and other body illnesses. Diabetics and pregnant ladies are particularly affected by gum disease.

Gum disease is almost always painless, and don’t let the lack of pain prevent you form taking action to seek gum disease treatment. Periodontal Microtherapy allows for safe, effective, and painless treatment of gum disease.

For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact us for a consultation.

Atlas Dental Care is proud to serve the local communities of :
El Monte, Rosemead, San Gabriel, Arcadia, Whittier, Baldwin Park,
Pico Rivera, Montebello, Alhambra, West Covina, Covina, Pasadena and Los Angeles.
California.