Whose Teeth Are These, Anyway??
By Tom Cornwell
Copyright 2002
http://snurl.com/DentalCare
Used with permission

Look in the mirror. Smile. See those teeth that have been serving you faithfully over the years? Want to keep them? Want to keep them healthy? Depending on whose statistics you go by, anywhere from 75% - 95% of all Americans have a quiet, insidious disease called "periodontal disease." This disease can not only destroy your teeth, gums and the nerves that serve them - this disease has the potential to mysteriously bring on heart disease, diabetes, respiratory illness, osteoporosis, pre-term or low birth weight delivery, and stroke.*

This "periodontal disease" is contagious. You can catch it by kissing, sharing eating utensils, etc. In fact, if you are one of the 75% - 95% with this disease, you probably contracted it early and innocently when your mother tested the temperature of your baby food or when your father kissed you goodnight. You may have already passed it on to your children...

The causes of the disease are microbes passed from one to another; strep mutans, for example, sets the tooth decay process in motion. This is normally a sign of the "first stage" of the disease, if we look at all the other "stages" such as decay, pyorrhea, gingivitis, etc., instead of looking at them as separate diseases.

Other microbial culprits will settle along the gumline and work their way under the gumline. The microbes are "anaerobic" for the most part - they thrive in the absence of oxygen - so when they find their way into an area of the tooth or gum that is being skipped over by the brush or floss - they take up residence and multiply. These microbes "eat" their way down by feeding on food particles (and they love sugar and foods that convert to sugar) left over from your meal because you didn't get right in and clean up right away. The waste from their feeding frenzy is acidic and that acidic by-product goes to work quietly destroying your teeth, gums and the connective tissue which holds it all together.

Loose teeth, cavities, bleeding or pain from abscesses evidences this. Of course, by the time YOU become aware of it, a GREAT DEAL of damage has already been done and you didn't even know it. Is this the first you've heard of this? You may ask, "If this is true, why didn't my dentist tell me about this?" Well, maybe your dentist did and you forgot, or maybe he didn't bother. Maybe your hygienist did, or tried to. Maybe she was under so much pressure to get you cleaned and free up the chair for the next patient that she didn't have time to tell you what she really wanted to tell you. Time is money and she needs to perform for the boss - or she doesn't get paid.

If the dentist doesn't do much restorative work - fixing your decayed tooth, cutting away your gums to do that deep scaling, capping your rotted teeth... well, he's not bringing home the bacon. It's not profitable to see patients all day with teeth in great shape! He depends on your rotting teeth and gums for a thriving practice. Have you ever heard, "Let's have another look at this in six months and see if it clears up"? Did he tell you what to do about it in the meantime or just send you out to the receptionist to make another appointment - at which time, if you don't change anything - your decay will get worse and he'll have to do some expensive work on your affected mouth. Pretty predictable!

That's like going to your auto mechanic for a check up. He looks, does nothing and sends you off with an appointment down the road - knowing that you are going to mess up your engine because the oil was filthy and down a quart, saying, "Let's see if the problem corrects itself in the meantime." Pretty predictable! Most of us keep pretty good track of our oil changes and would know a 'cock-and-bull' story like that when we hear one.

Unfortunately, this same type of knowledge isn't imparted to the masses by the dental profession as a general rule. So we don't know it. Whose teeth are they, anyway? Your dentist's? Of course not! So, if you want to keep your teeth and help protect the rest of your body in the meantime, you need to learn a few things about cleaning those pearly whites. Most people are more concerned about how white their teeth can be instead of how healthy they are. White teeth have nothing - necessarily - to do with healthy teeth. Proper cleaning of your teeth, gums and the rest of your mouth do! You need to learn how to properly clean you teeth and understand what you are doing for them in the process. Teeth continually go through a 'de-mineralization' and 're-mineralization' process - if conditions are right and the teeth are kept clean. They aren't simply hunks of dead bone sticking up through your jaw. They gain and lose minerals constantly - there is a life process continuously taking place and re-mineralization is part of that process. (See http://mizar5.com/demin.htm for understanding the remineralization process.)

Brushing and flossing don't do much for cleaning out under the gumline, however. You could do a great 5-minute brushing job and leave for work thinking all is well, when you may have only done half the job! If you have any decay activity going on below the gumline, then you need to tackle that too.

How do you get below the gums?

First, realize that "pockets" form between the teeth and gums in the presence of decay. Just how much decay, is evidenced by how deep these pockets are (at the very least). Pocket depth is measured in millimeters. You may have had your pockets checked by the hygienist during your last visit. She would've gone around each tooth with a probe measuring your pockets and logging the measurements on chart displaying a diagram of the teeth. The depths are recorded around each and every tooth. Did you ever have that done? If so, were you sent home with a copy of the chart so you could take some daily action to prevent those pockets from getting worse? Well, next time you have that done, ask for that chart and hang it up next to your bathroom mirror so you have to look at
it every day.

Cleaning those pockets is very simple and the benefits are well worth the small amount of additional time and expense. Purchase an oral irrigator such as a Water Pik or Via-jet or one that attaches right to your bathroom faucet or showerhead, such as a Quick Pik or Shower Pik. Use it every day, at least twice a day. This will allow you to (at the very least) flush particles out which are trapped between the teeth and under the gumline. If you've never used one, you might be quite surprised to see what comes out! Along with the food particles will come some of the little buggers you don't want there.

If you have deeper pockets (2mm - 4+mm) you may want to think about a solution to irrigate with other than water. A simple one is salt/baking soda/water mixture in the irrigator reservoir. Even better would be a rinse such as Listerine, Biotene or especially TheraSol rinse, often found in dental offices.

Where even deeper pockets (4+mm) are present, you may need a special, finer tip, which attaches to the handle of the irrigator. A 'cannulae' tip is a fine, sturdy wire-like tip, which fits easily into a deeper pocket. The intention is to be able to deliver a solution with anti-microbial properties as deep as necessary to flood the affected area with the solution. Daily, effective cleansing of this sort can keep the area clean of microbes, arresting the decay process, and in this clean environment, create a condition where the healing process can take place. And when this is achieved...?

Connective tissue between the gums and teeth start to grow back and the gums become healthy and do their job of securing the teeth. Of course nutrition plays a major role in all of this too: you need vitamin C for healthy gums, calcium and phosphorus for healthy teeth... but nutrition and proper care of the oral environment work hand in hand with keeping your teeth healthy for a lifetime. Not one without the other.

You may have thought you were doing all you could for the health of your teeth. But, if you are having problems, now you know that there is more you CAN do about it. Simply change your routine a little. You wouldn't think of eating dinner on this morning's dirty dishes - and you don't put those dishes away until they're spotless, right? Well, for many of us our teeth are far less than spotless when we finish brushing... now you can do a better job and your whole body will benefit down the road.

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