Diaries of a Dentist

Are Oral Bacteria Serious?

Oral bacterial causing infections in gum tissue may threaten more than your teeth and gums.  Research has established associations between oral bacteria and systemic diseases including:

1. Heart Disease
2. Type 2 Diabetes
3. Blood Clots
4. Strokes
5. Preterm and Low Birthrate Babies
6. Respiratory Disease

The theories linking oral bacteria to other diseases explain that the mouth may be a portal for bacteria to spread to the rest of your body.

    

What can you do?  There is a relatively new approach to treating the oral bacteria that cause gum and bone disease.  It is called the “Perio Tray” System, in conjunction with scaling and root planing and the placement of time released antibiotics.  

With the Perio Tray Method, you can place prescribed solutions into periodontal pockets with an appropriately formed, customized dental tray to be used between office visits to help manage the bacterial growth. Although a dentist must choose the most appropriate medications for individual patients, the most commonly prescribed solution with the Method has oxidizing and oxygenating agents along with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Oxidizing agents debride (chemically remove) the slimy protective coating of the biofilm and its underlying layers and also cleanse the oral wounds.   

Ask about this new treatment at your next dental visit in our Houston dentist office!

 

The Science is Clear, the Results are Unmistakable

 If we are all eating healthier, why are Americans stricken with heart disease and Type II Diabetes more that we were 30 years ago?  Even as the “low carbohydrate” craze sweeps the nation, two-thirds of adults and children are considered obese.

 

In 2005 a research book called “The China Study” came out examining the link between the consumption of animal based diets and many chronic diseases.  This China “project” was a survey of death rates for twelve different kinds of cancer.  The following is a partial list of diseases linked to diet: cancers of the breast, prostate and large bowel, diabetes, coronary heart disease, obesity, autoimmune disease, osteoporosis, degenerative brain disease, and macular degeneration.  The study examined the relationship between mortality rates and different dietary, lifestyle and environmental characteristics in 65 rural counties in China. 

Drawing on the project findings in rural China, but going far beyond those findings, The China Study also examined the source of a lot of “nutritional confusion” created by powerful lobbies, government entities and opportunistic scientists.  The New York Times has recognized the study as the “Grand Prix” of epidemiology and the most comprehensive large study undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease. 

The authors recommended people eat a “whole” plant-based diet and avoid consuming beef, poultry, eggs, fish and milk as a means to minimize and or reverse the development of chronic diseases.  Also recommended was adequate intake of sunshine in order to maintain sufficient levels of vitamin D and consider taking the supplement Vit.B12 in cases of complete avoidance of meats.  Their opinion is that there are virtually no nutrients in animal based foods that are not better provided by plants.   

What about our genes? Don’t they play a role? Genes do not determine disease on their own; they must be “activated”.  Nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes, good and bad, are activated.   

We are all aware that consuming animal based protein increases blood cholesterol levels.  In contrast, plant based foods contain no cholesterol and in many instances actually help to decrease the amount of cholesterol made by the body. 

The China Study is not a diet book.  We are bombarded with conflicting messages regarding health and nutrition.  The market is flooded with popular titles like “Adkins” and “South Beach”.  The China Study challenges the validity of these low carbohydrate fad diets.  The China Study presents “The Principles of Food and Health”:

• Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless foods.
• Vitamin supplements are not a panacea for good health.
• Virtually no animal based nutrients are better than plant based.
• Nutrition can substantially control the adverse effects of chemicals.
• Nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages can also halt or reverse it in its later stages.
• Nutrition that is beneficial for a particular disease will also support good health across the board.
• Good nutrition creates health in all areas of our existence. 

Is Snoring Killing You?

Is Snoring Killing You?

  

Just about everyone snores every now and then, even a baby or your dog.  But snoring can dramatically affect the quality of your life.  If your snoring is so loud that your bed partner can’t sleep, you may end up banished from the bedroom. Snoring can lead to relationship stress, poor sleep, daytime fatigue, irritability and increased health problems.  Snoring can also indicate a more serious condition known as sleep apnea, a potentially life threatening condition that usually requires medical attention. 

 

What are the most common causes of snoring?

1.  Age: As you reach middle age and beyond your throat narrows and the muscle tone in your throat decreases.

2.  The way you’re built: Men are more likely to snore due to a more narrow air passage. Other factors are enlarged adenoids, cleft palate, and other physical attributes that can be hereditary.

3.  Nasal and Sinus Problems: Blocked airways make breathing difficult and create a vacuum in the throat leading to snoring.

4.  Being overweight: Fatty tissue and poor muscle tone contribute to snoring.

5.  Alcohol, smoking and medications:  Alcohol intake, smoking and certain medications can increase muscle relaxation leading to snoring.

6.  Sleep Posture: Sleeping flat on you back causes the soft palate in your throat to relax and block the airway.

 

Is snoring the same as Sleep Apnea?

No, snoring is simply a loud sound that you make during breathing while asleep if there is any obstruction in your airway.  However, people with sleep apnea are deprived of oxygen due to a complete blockage of the airway which can have a major impact on health. 

 

Medical Remedies for snoring

1.  Surgery: Tissue can surgically be removed to widen the airway and plastic implants are inserted into the soft palate.  Scar tissue grows around these implants stiffening the soft palate

 

2.  Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP): A machine at your bedside blows pressurized air into a mask that you wear over you face.  

3.   A Dental Appliance, lower jaw-positioner:  An appliance worn at night that advances the lower jaw forward, opening the airway.  This is by far the most non-invasive and most tolerable option.

   
 

*The dental appliance fits inside your mouth much like a mouth guard or retainer.  

Finally, a few “Self Help” tips for snoring

1.    Sleep on your side not on your back.

2.    Lose Weight.

3.    Avoid alcohol, tobacco and certain medications.

4.    Elevate the head of your bed 4-6 inches.

5.    Maintain regular sleep hours.

6.    Keep bedroom air moist.

7.    Avoid large meals prior to bedtime.

The good news is there are many things you can do to help

snoring that are not invasive and relatively inexpensive.

AM I AT RISK FOR DENTAL AND ORAL DISEASES?

Risk Factors You Can Control: 

 

1. Diet:  Foods that are high in sugars and starches, as well as the frequency those food or drinks are consumed, promote tooth decay and gum disease (periodontal disease).
2. Stress:  Grinding and/or clenching your teeth can wear away tooth enamel and actually loosen your teeth. 
3. Children’s Habits:  Thumb sucking, using a pacifier or childhood teeth grinding can affect the development of permanent teeth.
4. Tobacco:  Smoking and the use of chewing tobacco and snuff all are major risk factors for gum and bone disease as well as oral cancer.
5. Drug or alcohol use:  Alcohol and many drugs can cause dry mouth which promotes all dental diseases.  They also contribute to stress, which can lead to teeth grinding and clenching.  In addition, people who abuse drugs and alcohol tend to not practice good oral hygiene.
6. Medical problems:  Diabetes, osteoporosis, inflammatory bowel disease and AIDS are just a few of the medical conditions that make people more susceptible to all dental diseases.  Gum disease makes it more difficult for diabetic to control their blood sugar.  If you are a smoker, have diabetes and are 45 or older, you are 20 times more likely to have severe gum disease.  If you have osteoporosis, the loss of minerals can make the bones supporting the teeth more vulnerable to infection and increases the risk of tooth loss.

Risk Factors You Cannot Control

1. Family history:  Heredity is a risk factor in many patients with periodontal, gum and bone disease.  A defect in the immune system can be inherited which makes it easier to develop gum infections.  Also, the bacteria that cause gum infections are in the saliva and can be passed from one person to another.
2. Drinking water:  What was the quality of drinking water when you were growing up?  Many communities have fluoride added to their drinking water and a lot of well water contains natural fluoride.  Fluoridated water makes teeth stronger and more resistant to tooth decay.
3. Medications:  Drugs such as birth control pills, steroids, blood pressure drugs, anti-seizure drugs, cancer-fighting drugs and heart disease drugs can make you more susceptible to gum disease and tooth decay.  
4. Gender:  Hormonal changes such as puberty, pregnancy, menopause and birth control pills make women more susceptible to gum disease.  The hormone changes make the gums more sensitive to irritants and plaque.
5. Age:  Children and senior citizens have a higher risk of tooth decay.  More than 90% of oral cancers occur in patients over the age of 45.  This risk increases steadily until around age 65, when the rate levels off. 

For more information on healthy living, go to “Hands on Health”.

Preventive Health

 Preventive Health refers to a certain lifestyle and healthcare practices to encourage and enhance your disease free healthy years.  It makes sense to put more energy and effort into preventing disease so less will be required for treating disease.  It is a more “Holistic” approach to health. Holistic health, although sometimes confused with alternative medicine, refers to maintenance of the entire person, physical, mental and emotional.  That is what we try to provide for our patients.  Routine cleanings and screening for dental and periodontal disease, so any problems can be caught early and treated conservatively. And stress free sedation dentistry to address the emotional aspect of any needed treatment.  The dental insurance industry has long been aware of preventive health benefits as they usually provide dental cleanings and screenings twice a year at virtually no cost to the patient.  Make this year your best year for overall wellness!  We look forward to seeing you at your next recall!  

TEN STEPS TO FINER HEALTH

1. Eat wisely for good nutrition, energy and overall health.  
2. Get adequate sleep. Try to stay on a regular sleep cycle sleeping for at least 8 hours a night.
   
3. Exercise daily. Get sunlight daily.
   
4. Use drug free stress reduction methods such as meditation.
   
5. Do not use alcohol, tobacco or other substances.
6. Practice good oral hygiene, regular brushing, flossing and professional cleanings.
7. Minimize your exposure to environmental toxins found in food, water and air as much as possible.
   
8. Maintain a positive attitude, play, laugh, be grateful, and be happy.
   
9. Practice the “Golden Rule”.  
   
10. Seek peace, humility, simplicity and calm in your daily life.  
    

Dental Insurance-What is it really worth?

Unfortunately most people do not have a good understanding of their dental insurance plan.  Dental insurance is not at all similar to your medical insurance.  Unfortunately, your dental insurance in not going to be your “savior”, should you have a lot of dental needs.  Most of people have dental plans today but unfortunately they are not aware of the limitations.  

Dental Insurance is not really “insurance” at all.  Insurance is defined as a third party taking the risk of a catastrophic loss.  Most dental plans have an annual maximum of $1500.00, and I think we can all agree that there is nothing “catastrophic” about $1500.00.  

Let’s call it what is really is, a “maintenance” plan.  Dental plans help us keep our mouths in good health, from a preventative stand point, but if something serious should happen, your dental plan has significant financial limitations.  

So what can you do?  Today dentistry offers many third party financing options.  Care Credit is one of the more popular and well known.  Plans like Care Credit allow you to spread your payments out over an extended period of time.  In some cases, patients can make payments up to 12 months at no interest!  It is a wonderful plan that takes away a lot of the stress of having dental work done.  

Careful planning of your dental treatment “order” is another way to maximize the dental coverage that you do have.  Often times you can prioritize your treatment, doing the most critical teeth first, and putting off the less damaged teeth to the next year which allows you to use two years worth of dental benefits.  

One point that should be made is that patient’s reliance on their dental “insurance” has compromised appropriate care for many people.  Often times, dental “insurance” clouds the treatment planning process, and makes it more difficult for the dentists to do the best for their patients.  

Gum Disease Linked to Baby’s Death

Gum Disease Linked to Baby’s Death

We all know research by medical doctors has linked the bacteria found in infected gums to many serious diseases, such as cardio-vascular disease, pancreatic cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Pregnant women with gum disease have long been warned that periodontal disease can cause a baby to be born prematurely or too small. But for the first time scientists have linked bacteria from a mother’s gums to an infection in a baby that was full-term but stillborn, according to a study which was published in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Scientists now say a pregnant woman’s gum disease caused her baby to be stillborn.

 Scientists from Case Western University made the discovery after a 35 year old California woman contacted them to help investigate the death of her baby. Bacteria from the mouth can easily get into the bloodstream once a woman’s gums are bleeding, explains the study’s lead author Dr. Yiping Han, a professor of periodontics and pathology at Case Western University.  “Once the bacteria are in the blood, they can go almost anywhere,” Hans explains. The placenta is an immuno-suppressed organ, which makes it easy for the bacteria to colonize the placenta. Plaque samples from the woman’s teeth were found to be positive for the exact same strain of the oral bacteria found in the dead baby’s stomach and lung.

 Now we all realize this is an extreme case, which probably does not occur that often. But it makes one consider getting one’s gum disease treated before any of these situations arise. Gum disease is simple to diagnose and easy to treat by our dental professionals.

New Year's Resolution: #1 Save Marriage,Stop Snoring

Snoring can create severe strain on a relationship.  Imagine sleeping next to a buzz-saw every night.  In the morning you are both tired and upset from the night’s disturbance.  In one extreme case, a wife applied crazy glue to her husband’s lips! 

The majority of noisy snoring is caused by a restricted airflow at the back of the throat.  This happens when the soft tissues at the back of the throat close up so air has to be forced through. This closing up happens when asleep because the muscles at the back of the throat go slack, and the lower jaw relaxes, constricting the airway.  Snoring is also linked to a condition called obstructive sleep apnea or OSA. 

 Snoring and OSA are so common that their true impact on our daily lives is difficult to appreciate.  OSA  studies found that quality-of-life was significantly impaired in these patients, and can also contribute to hypertension, coronary artery disease, stroke, irregular heart beat, etc.   Most physicians treat this condition with a medical device called a CPAP, a continuous positive airway pressure machine.  Few people tolerate this appliance very well.

Now there is a new, more comfortable and less expensive option!  The Dental Snore Guard or the Mandibular Advancement Appliance.  

The Snore Guard is custom made to fit every patient precisely. It advances the lower jaw to prevent the tissue collapse in the back of the throat.  Simply put the appliance in the mouth before going to sleep to keep the airway unblocked eliminating  the snoring.

Implants Chosen Replacement Technique

Because of improvements over the last ten or so years in dental implants, often implants are the chosen replacement technique over the classical bridge. See the New York Times link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/17brod.html?_r=1&emc=eta1