Many of us grew up with toothpaste commercials, which ended with “brush your teeth every day and have your teeth cleaned every six months”.  In addition, most Dental Insurance Plans only cover one or two cleanings per year.  One would imagine that a cleaning every six months is enough to maintain everyone’s optimum oral health.   However, this is not the case. For optimum health benefits treatment must be based on everyone’s individual needs.  In order to understand this we need to look a little closer at gum disease and how to prevent it.

Nearly 85% of the American population has some stage of Gum Disease or Periodontal disease, as dentists call it. It is an infectious process caused by billions of bacteria found in dental plaque and tartar. All of us have dental plaque, which commonly forms at the gum-line. There is no way to prevent its formation on our teeth, but we can learn to remove it.   The first stage of gum infection is called gingivitis and is characterized by puffy red gums, which bleed easily when touched, brushed or flossed.  The good news about gingivitis is that it completely reversible with proper treatment.  If gingivitis is left untreated it becomes destructive.  The infection progresses to the underlying bone supporting the teeth.  As the disease progresses, the gums peel away from the teeth. As the disease spreads to the bone  teeth begin to loosen, gum abscess and bad breath become common, and teeth are ultimately lost. In fact, Gum disease is the most common reason how Americans loose their teeth today. Reversing bone loss around teeth is involves complex surgical bone grafting surgery and is not always predictable. 

Recently, several systemic disease have been linked to Periodontal Disease. These diseases chronic lung disease like asthma and emphysema, diabetes, heart attack, stroke, some cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.  As more research in this field grows is done there is a likelihood that more diseases will be linked to Gum Disease.  The common factor seems to be inflammation.

So how often do we need our teeth professionally cleaned?   The answer is “It depends”.  Since gum disease severity, and progression depends on each individual’s ability to remove plaque and the immune system’s response to bacteria, and speed of plaque and tartar buildup. The time interval between cleaning may vary from one individual to another and within one individual at different times.

How does Dr. Shvartsman and his Dental Hygienists custom tailor your treatment?  It all begins with proper diagnosis of the stage of gum disease.  This is accomplished with thorough measurement of gum and bone levels around each tooth, taking careful note of any bleeding and abscessed areas: the sign of infected and inflamed gums, tooth mobility, your bite and   X-ray evaluation. This evaluation should be done at every check-up.

If gum problems are discovered the first step is non-surgical treatment.  This consists of thorough instruction on brushing and flossing techniques, and a series of gum treatments using ultrasonic and hand instruments to remove plaque, tartar and bacterial toxins from the teeth and gums.  In addition, now there are several medicines that help treat gum disease as well. It may take multiple visits to thoroughly complete this phase of treatment.   How the patient responds to the treatment determines whether they are placed on a maintenance program or further therapy is necessary which may consist of antibiotic therapy and/or a surgical approach to further clean out the gums.   During each maintenance visit the hygienist and dentist evaluate the gums for signs of infection and plaque levels.   This determines the time length between visits and need for additional gum treatment.  Some require two months between visits; others can be seen every six months.  It depends.

 At our dental office we have made a firm commitment to our patients health and well being.  The purpose of out Hygiene Departments is to help our patients maintain healthy gums and therefore live longer, healthier lives. We follow the current standard of care by performing six point gum measurements around every tooth on an annual basis as part of our routine periodic examination.

 Shockingly, the American Academy of Periodontology has stated that 73% of dental offices do not evaluate their patients for gum disease.  In addition, according to the American Dental Association, 50% of dental offices diagnosing gum disease do not measure the gums and identify the severity of gum disease. That means that at best 13.5% of dental offices across out country are meeting the gum disease measuring standard of care!  At State of the Art Comfort Dentistry we are proudly in that minority.

If you are interested in a thorough evaluation of your gums feel free to contact Dr. Shvartsman at (631)361-3577