Periodontal Disease: Major Public Health

     Periodontal disease is more commonly known as gum disease or gingivitis. This infection is serious enough, that it can lead to tooth loss if left untreated. This chronic infection starts around the tooth and it affects the supporting bone and gums. Periodontal disease can affect anywhere from one tooth to all thirty-two teeth. The disease pathology starts with the plaque that builds up on your teeth everyday.

From the Gothenburg group, Lindhe et al., carried out a 14 year follow up of 61 out of initially 75 patients after active treatment of advanced periodontal disease, being defined as

Periodontal disease can lead you to lose all of your teeth. The mouth is the gateway to the rest of the body; it can be the entering passage between healthy and sick. The moment an infection grows in the mouth, the entire body automatically starts to try to fight it. “…due to significant findings supporting the association between periodontal disease and systemic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and osteoporosis” (Amar and Kim). It has been suggested that the bacteria of this infection may enter the bloodstream and attach themselves to the blood vessels which then increase clot formation. These clots then lower the blood flow to the heart indicating that a heart attack is a common consequence of gum

If you suffer from advanced periodontal disease, when discussing treatment options with your dentist, make sure that you also talk about the different recovery times that go with each procedure. Make sure that you are able to set aside the proper amount of time for your mouth to heal based on the treatment option you

2. Aggressive Periodontitis – mainly affects an individual’s incisors and first molars. This disease may develop in healthy teenagers and young adults. Aggressive Periodontitis is characterized by a severe loss of the bone responsible for holding the teeth (alveolar bone). Oddly enough, individuals with this form of gum disease rarely form dental plaque or tartar.

Gum diseases (sometimes called PERIODONTAL or GINGIVAL DISEASES) are infections that harm the gum and bone that hold teeth in place. When plaque stays on your teeth too long, it forms a hard, harmful covering, called TARTAR, that brushing doesn't clean. The longer the plaque and tartar stay on your teeth, the more damage they cause. This is called GINGIVITIS. If gingivitis is not treated, over time it can make your gums pull away from your teeth and form pockets that can get infected. This is called PERIODONTITIS. If not treated, this infection can ruin the bones, gums, and tissue that support your teeth. In time, it can cause loose teeth that your dentist may have to remove.

Research shows that periodontitis might be connected with the development of cardiovascular disease. One theory is that the inflammatory proteins and the microorganisms in the periodontal tissue enter the circulatory system and cause different consequences for the cardiovascular system. Researchers know that inflammation leads to hardened arteries, called atherosclerosis. That is a condition that

Advanced periodontitis is the final stage of gum disease, where the pockets around your teeth deepen, and the bone and fibres supporting your teeth are mostly destroyed. This can cause teeth to move or loosen and can affect the way you bite. At this stage, of aggressive professional treatment is unable to save them, they may need to be

Periodontitis is an infectious disease that affects all organs of the tooth structure: gums, root surface, bone and ligaments that tooth is attached to the bone. Periodontitis begins inconspicuously as gingivitis, which is manifested mainly by bleeding. Later, the inflammation spreads to the depth and results in a progressive loss of bone. Gums begin to recede, the roots of the teeth is exposed arise periodontal swelling and pus. Teeth start to wobble, spacing and release. The decisive factor is the quality of oral hygiene, not

RESULTS: Out of the 10 cases, only 2 cases could be supported with a microbial evaluation. The remaining 8 cases were clinically and radiologically suggestive of Aggressive Periodontitis.

Gingivitis, the acute inflammatory phase of periodontal disease, is characterized by redness, bleeding and swelling of the gingival tissue, and if let untreated can progress into periodontitis characterized by the formation of gingival pockets and potential tooth loss. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), periodontitis affects nearly half (47%) of American adults, which translates to nearly 65 million patients over the age of

Very common in adults, gum disease may also involve the child or young person. Periodontal disease increases with

(178) published a paper in the form of a clinical trial in order to examine the effect of periodontal treatment on the biological and clinical parameters of RA. Their proposed study was randomized controlled trial including participants with both RA and periodontitis. The investigators plan to involve a total of 40 individuals into two groups (intervention group including full-mouth SRP, followed by systemic antibiotics, amoxicillin or clindamycin, if allergic to penicillin, for seven days, oral hygiene instructions, and rinsing with 0.12 % chlorhexidine gluconate for 10 days after periodontal treatment). Patients will be followed for three months, and the same intervention will then be applied to the control group. The primary outcome of this study was a change in DAS28 score by decreasing RA activity. A major drawback of this study is the use of amoxicillin or clindamycin adjunctive to SRP. This antimicrobial approach should not be used as periodontal pathogens have been shown to be resistant to these

As society continues to age, the lack of dental care is becoming an increasingly critical issue, given the evidence that dental health is intertwined with overall health. It is expected that 21% of the U.S population will be 65 years or older by the year 2040, thanks to the influx of baby boomers (Stein, Aalboe, 2015). Due to this rapid growth in longevity, the problem of access to care will be magnified. More older adults are aging with their natural teeth compared to previous generations. For this reason, an increased awareness about the lack of dental care in our health care system has become a concern. Evidence links oral health to systemic health (Foltyn, 2015). Indeed, it is “currently recognized that oral diseases are a worldwide

Few would argue that diabetes mellitus is not a common disease that affects a large number of the World’s population. Shockingly, the World Health Organization reported that an estimated 347 million people globally have either type 1 or type 2 diabetes (Bossart et al., 2015). In the United States alone that number is 29 million (Wilkins, 2017). What most people do not understand is the distinct connection between diabetes and poor oral health. In fact, periodontal disease is considered to be a common complication of diabetes, proving that the connection between the two diseases is strong. Diabetes is one of the most common systemic diseases that has been studied with in-depth detail as it relates to periodontal disease. Gingivitis and periodontitis both fall under the umbrella of periodontal disease. Gingivitis is inflammation of just the gingival tissue. When gingivitis is left untreated it leads to periodontitis, which permanently damages the supporting tissue and bone.