Did you know the risk factors for periodontal disease include:
□ Heredity / Family History* □Poor oral hygiene
□ Smoking* □ Faulty dentistry
□ Diabetes* □ Hormonal variations
□ Ethnicity* □ Immunocompromised
□ History of perio disease* □ Connective tissue diseases
□ Stress □Transmission of pathogens via shared saliva
□ All medications
□ Nutrition
*Top five areas of risk
What You Should Know:
• Risk factors such as diabetes and smoking are far more potent than others such as faulty dental work and missed hygiene appointments.
• All risk factors are not created equal. The greater your risk, the more likely you are to have a periodontal infection in your lifetime, in some cases severe.
• Periodontal disease is transmissible through the saliva.
• Modifying your level of personal risk, whenever possible, is essential to successful treatment outcomes.
Are you at risk? Contact us if you would like more information!
The information was compiled from a variety of sources rather than a single journal article, including interviews and published works by leading clinicians, researchers and dental educators including; Dr. Larry Sweeting, Dr. Maria Ryan, Dr. Laura Minsk and the JP Institute.
Dental implants are the most stable and cost-effective solution when it comes to replacing missing teeth, whether they’re for one or two teeth or even an entire mouth. But they also require specialized knowledge, expertise, instrumentation and equipment. We are one of a handful of dental offices in Northern Virginia who can perform both the surgical placement and reconstructive phases of implants (placing the teeth themselves). This means you don’t have to see two or more doctors to complete your smile. In our office we use newly developed techniques and technology to make your visit easier, faster and more comfortable. Contact us to find out whether dental implants are the solution to your dental problems.
When it comes to dental implants, my patients are especially pleased when I can speed up the implant process. Use of the “Teeth in a Day” technique allows us to extract teeth, place multiple implants and place a fixed provisional all in one appointment. In some cases we have found there is not enough dense bone to allow immediate placement of implants, in which case implant placement may have to be delayed. If immediate placement of implants following tooth extraction is the solution to your dental problem, we can help.
If you have missing teeth, you could be at an increased risk for oral bone loss. Oral bone loss compromises healthy teeth and causes a loss of facial contours. Preserving oral bone may help maintain your natural facial appearance. Those who have significant oral bone loss also face losing additional teeth and are at higher risk for injury resulting from fracture of their jaw. If you are missing teeth, contact us to find out your treatment options to prevent oral bone loss.
In September we’ll be traveling to the Dominican Republic with Implant Seminars to spend three days placing implants patients. Between now and then, I will set aside to donate to the project $100 for every implant I place. Implant dentistry is the best dentistry has to offer when your natural teeth are not longer up to the task. Now you can have the best dentistry has to offer and give back too!
Being able to place dental implants and restore smiles has energized the team at Rye Smiles for Life. Dental implants are substitutes for the roots of missing teeth. They act as an anchor for a replacement tooth or crown or a set of replacement teeth. Patients of all ages are finding that implants are the best choice for them whether they are missing one or more teeth due to injury, disease or decay. They are especially practical for patients who can no longer wear removable dentures. Although our teeth were designed to last a lifetime, sometimes they don’t! Replacing missing teeth is important to your general health and to the health of your other teeth. Not only do you lose chewing ability when a tooth is lost, but unreplaced teeth can cause other teeth to be lost, tipped or crowded and create subsequent problems. Also, there are the obvious problems of poor appearance and loss of self-esteem caused by one or more missing teeth. Dental implants should always be considered as an option to replace a failing or missing tooth and in many instances are considered more predictable than bridgework, resin bonded bridges and endodontic treatment. Contact me to see whether you are a candidate for dental implants.
For the techies out there interested in implant dentistry, you may be interested in the technology we use to ensure success in our dental implant surgeries. We use cone beam computed tomography or CBCT (3D X-ray imaging) pre-operatively to accurately pinpoint vital structures. This technology reduces the chances of complications, the amount of time you send in the chair, and the number of visits. Cone beam CT scanning, when compared to traditional medical CT scanning, utilizes less than 2% of the radiation, provides more accuracy in the area of interest, and is safer for the patient. CBCT allows us to create a surgical guide, which allows us to accurately angle the implant into the ideal space. Interested? Contact me to find out how new technologies are improving dental implant outcomes every day!
If you suffer chronic chronic headaches and migraines, we may be able to alleviate your pain through using neuromuscular dentistry. Frequently, correction of bite disorders and relaxation of the muscles related to the tempo mandibular joint (TMJ) cures headache pain — for good! Contact us for an evaluation.
Three out of every four Americans have signs of mild periodontal disease or gingivitis. Almost 30% show signs of the more severe disease, chronic periodontitis. Recent scientific literature suggests a strong relationship between oral disease and other systemic diseases and medical conditions. There are three ways oral disease may affect your overall health. First, bacteria from your gums enter the saliva. From the saliva it may adhere to water droplets within the air you inhale each time you breathe. These bacteria laden water droplets may be aspirated into the lungs, potentially causing pulmonary infection and pneumonia. This can be very troublesome for the elderly or those who may suffer from generalized weakened immunity, associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Inflammatory mediators found in inflamed gums called “cytokines” can also enter your saliva. As they too are aspirated into the lungs, they have pro-inflammatory effects on the lower airway, which can contribute to further pulmonary complications. Secondly, bacteria associated with periodontal disease can enter the body’s circulatory system through the gums (periodontium) around teeth and travel to all parts of the body. As the oral bacteria travels, it may cause secondary infections or it may contribute to the disease process in other tissues and organ systems. Finally, inflammation associated with periodontal disease may stimulate a second systemic inflammatory response within the body and contribute to or complicate other disease entities that may have an inflammatory origin such as, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, orthopedic implant failure and kidney disease. Whatever the route oral bacterial may influence, it is in every patient’s best interest to maintain their mouth in an optimum state of health. If you have any concern about your dental or gum health, which we know affects your overall health, contact us for an evaluation and get on track to optimal health!
