Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Periodontal Disease and Your Health

Hello Everyone,

Recently, we have been focusing a lot of attention on periodontal disease and the Perio Protect Treatment. There has been so much new information regarding periodontal disease and the link to your overall health, that I feel that it is important to continue sharing it with you. We have many patients that are currently using the Perio Protect Trays with hydrogen peroxide and antioxidant medications to treat their gum disease and are having great results. We have some updated information that we wanted to make sure to pass on to our Perio Protect users, to ensure you are receiving the utmost benefits:

Previously, you were instructed to brush and floss before using your trays. We now have new direction to use the trays prior to brushing and flossing. The reason for this is that when you brush and floss your teeth you are disturbing the oral bacteria and releasing it into your system. When you use your Perio Protect Trays first, you will be killing off 99% of the bad bacteria prior to brushing and flossing, therefore, limiting your body's exposure to the harmful bacteria. So if you are currently using the trays, please alter your routine to using the trays prior to brushing and flossing.

We also want to emphasize the importance of using the trays more than once a day if you currently have periodontitis or gingivitis. I have added a extremely motivating video to this blog that I encourage you to watch. It shows a plate sample of oral bacterial and it's growth within a 24 hour period of time under high magnification. When you use your trays you are killing off 99% of the bad bacteria. As shown in the video, any remaining bacteria in your mouth quickly will multiply and within a 24 hour period of time return full force. Therefore, it is important to use the trays multiple times as a day, as directed, to keep the bacteria level low so your gum tissue has time to heal.

Negative Effects of Periodontal Disease

Biofilm, communities of bacteria found on teeth and gum, causes inflammation of the gum tissue. Since the gum tissue is only three cell walls thick, toxic bacteria can make its way through the gum tissue into the blood stream. Once the bacteria reaches the blood stream it can be linked to major health problems. For example, did you know that if you have periodontal disease you are:
168% more likely to develop Heart Disease
250% more likely to have a Stroke
300% more likely to get Osteoporosis and
700% more likely to have a low birth weight baby?

Researchers have also found oral bacteria in the artery walls of the heart and in blood vessels. C Reactive Protein is a measure of inflammation in the body and can be measured by blood work. Many physicians view elevated C Reactive Protein as more predictive of a future heart attack than high cholesterol! Inflammation is a healthy person's response to injury or infection. The inflammatory process alerts our immune system which helps us to heal. However, when inflammation becomes chronic, it becomes a major health problem.

A colleague of mine, Dr. Ostler, put together a bibliography of almost 1,000 studies conducted showing the negative effects of periodontal disease to your systemic (overall) health. We have this bibliography in our office for those of you who like see for yourself the eye-opening results.

I am personally committed to helping my patients to attain their ultimate health. As we can see, treating periodontal disease is part of this process. Please contact our office if you would like further information about periodontal disease and the Perio Protect Treatment.




Thank you and be well.

Dr. Rick Stickney and Team

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