How periodontal inflammation
     can wreak havoc within your body

    (and what we are doing about it)

The Mouth / Body Connection

The founders of The Mayo Clinic have declared: “A healthy mouth can add ten years to your life!” They were referring to a growing body of evidence that has linked serious gum disease, also known as periodontitis, to a number of “systemic” diseases that afflict the body. We do not yet understand the exact nature of the connection, but studies emphasize that the benefits of having a healthy mouth go far beyond personal appearance and no cavities.  The possibility that pathology within the mouth can influence systemic disease has been suggested by the U.S. Surgeon General and in numerous investigations exploring the relationship between periodontal disease and coronary heart disease, stroke, pregnancy complications, diabetes and bacterial pneumonia.  What is clear is that treating periodontal disease by eliminating infection and its accompanying inflammation will help

    ✔  boost the immune system

    ✔  reduce the severity of other disease processes

    ✔  and improve overall health.

A Portal of Entry for Microbial Infections

When compromised by inflammation, the gum tissue that surrounds the teeth is a vast portal of entry for microbes. Even inhaling bacteria and viruses that inhabit periodontal pockets has the potential to trigger respiratory infection.

Gum disease and tooth loss are related to deterioration of bone mass.  Periodontitis disrupts disease management by diabetics and doubles their likelihood of heart problems and kidney failure. Pregnant women with periodontal infection are at risk of pre-term delivery and low birth weight babies. 

The Focus of our Oral Health Care Has Changed Forever

The oral-systemic disease connection has fundamentally changed the practice of dentistry. Simple “management” of disease is totally unacceptable. Our greater responsibility is to ☛ cure periodontal inflammation ☚ so that the lives of our patients are satisfying and abundant.   The Journal of The American Dental Association concludes that the traditional treatment model has not worked.  Witness the prevalence of oral infection today, in spite of conventional approaches to care. Our new design addresses a comprehensive understanding of disease processes that allows us to more definitively focus on your needs with a new arsenal of weapons to fight inflammation.

The link between inflammation of the gums and debilitating or even life-threatening systemic disease is real.  Our multi-disciplinary approach is often coordinated with primary-care physicians with whom we are eager to work, because we understand the physiology of the mouth, share patients with  identifiable risk factors, and have the means to address their needs.

In most cases, the therapy provided in our office by our dental hygienists is sufficiently comprehensive to deal with oral inflammation and infection.  The sooner treatment is initiated, however, the better are we able to avoid the systemic consequences of inaction.  This is why we are so passionate about periodontal therapy.   More than just a simple cleaning, it is in every way the practice of oral therapeutic and preventive medicine.

Inflammation: The Secret Killer

In 2004, Time Magazine ran a cover story entitled "The Secret Killer."  It addressed "the surprising link between inflammation and heart attacks, cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases, and what we can do to fight it."  The article reported that a home care technique as simple as "flossing your teeth combats gum disease, a source of chronic inflammation."

At our Center for Advanced Dentistry, we were pleased that the media had  finally awakened to a problem that we identified and began to aggressively treat way back in 1990.  That was when we started using not just floss and other personal oral hygiene products but also lasers to kill the bacteria associated with gum disease, inflammation and infection.

Describing inflammation as “The Fires Within,” Time reported that “hardly a week goes by without the publication of yet another study uncovering a new way that chronic inflammation does harm to the body.  It destabilizes cholesterol deposits in the coronary arteries, leading to heart attacks and strokes.  It chews up nerve cells in the brains of Alzheimer’s victims. It may even facilitate the transformation of abnormal cells into cancer.   Chronic inflammation may be the engine that drives many of the  most feared illnesses of middle and old age.”  Be assured will not allow you to suffer the effects of inadequately treated chronic gum inflammation. 

                                              Changing the Future                                              (never repeat the mistakes of the past)

We now have almost 20 years of experience using lasers to attack periodontal inflammation at the microscopic level of infection. The power of its focused light destroys otherwise inaccessible bacterial colonies while simultaneously creating an ideal environment for healing.  Today, our practice offers our patients the hope of a better tomorrow by providing oral health care in ways that were science fiction only a few years ago.  We are not only cleaning teeth and creating beautiful smiles. With our enlightened therapy, we are doing more than enhancing lifestyle:

    ✔  Each time we treat a patient, we are changing their future.

    ✔ We are prolonging lives and saving life itself.