This past Friday morning Wendy, one of the excellent hygienists at Southern California Dental Health Associates, gave her patient the supreme compliment. In Wendy’s words the patient’s gum tissues were “excellent”. To tell the truth this kind of praise doesn’t happen often.
As much as I would like to give the credit to Wendy, all the credit went to the patient, a young woman, who at her previous appointment did not have such a good report card. We talked and she said she got the part about her mouth being the pathway to the rest of her body and that was caused her to make the commitment to taking better care of her mouth. All she did was brush, floss and use softpicks. And I just got to tell her how much we appreciated that she got the message and realized she had to do her part at home and to keep up the good work. She got it, good dental care involves a partnership between all members of the dental office and the patient. We all got to do our own part, but the biggest part does go to the patient.
Let me tell you about something else we find that works at Southern California Dental Health Associates. First a little science here. In dentistry, and in fact, the entire body, it is not about eliminating the bacteria in the body, that can never happen. There are 10 times more bacteria than there are human cells. What needs to be done is try and get all the bacteria to behave as well as we can. Damage happens when the bacteria behave badly. And here is the point I want to make. Bacteria line in what are called biofilms and this is where the bacteria party hangs out. Bad bacteria get good bacteria to behave badly. And the biofilm is very difficult to break down. Even if you do all you can at home with your home care, if the biofilm is active you are fighting a losing battle.
And here comes PerioProtect to the rescue. PerioProtect has some pretty strong research done at USC that shows that their patented delivery system filled with their 1.7% hydrogen peroxide gel actually can break down the biofilm so you can stop the party. It does take you to actually fill the trays and wear them (number of times a day and the minutes per time vary based on your particular dental needs) . But I know it works since I was able to see the tremendous change in my brother-in-laws mouth in an area that just wasn’t resolving with his normal home care and hygiene in the office. And guess what else he said, it was the easiest visit he has ever had with the hygienist.
So if you are frustrated with bleeding gums at home, or still can’t figure out why you brush and floss and still have gum disease this non-surgical, minimally invasive treatment might just be the ticket for you. It does have a few potential side effects, your teeth might whiten a bit and it might also attack the biofilm that causes cavities. Not bad for side effects.