gum disease

Dentists Seek new Guidelines for Gum Disease

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An interesting article titled “When is periodontal maintenance not enough?: The need for clinical guidance,” appears in the Journal of the American Dental Association published on January 21, 2023, written by Stephen K. Harrel and et. al. The article discusses how dentistry should seek to make new guidelines that address the management of periodontal patients who have continued inflammation. In the article discussion is made of how scaling and root planing is typically the first treatment for periodontal disease does not always eliminate inflammation. The initial treatment of periodontal disease consists of the removal of biofilm and calculus and patient education to help them continue to maintain oral hygiene in the future. The authors feel that in the case when inflammation persists, dentists should discuss to the patient advanced therapies and the risks of not undergoing these therapies while also … Read more

Parents Sue After Three Year Old Kansas Boy Died from Dental Work

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In July 2021, a three year old boy died after having dental work done in Kansas. A few months later the parents filed a lawsuit against the the dentist, the dental office, the nurse anesthetist, and the anesthesia company. The young boy needed to have some teeth removed due to a gum infection. He went with his mother to two dental offices in southwest Kansas to help choose a dental office. Ultimately a dental office was chosen in Wichita, Kansas which was four hours from their home. According to the timeline of events in the lawsuit, during the boy’s dental work he was given anesthesia with propofol and ketamine by the nurse anesthetist at 7:15 A.M. Around 8 AM the boy was given another dose of propofol by the nurse anesthetist. Around the same time the nurse anesthetist noticed an … Read more

Behavioral Interventions for Periodontal Disease

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An interesting article titled “The effect of risk communication on periodontal treatment outcomes: A randomized controlled trial” appears in the 2019 edition of the Journal of Periodontology written by Asimakopoulou et al. The article explores using psychological interventions to reduce gum disease. In the article the authors were inspired by a Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behavior model to improve clinical, psychological, and self-reported behavioral outcomes. Specifically the authors sought to assess such things as periodontal probing depths and bleeding on probing, self reported teeth brushing, and thoughts about periodontal disease. The authors randomized 97 adults with moderate peridontal disease who presented at King’s College London in the U.K. into three treatment groups: 1) usual dental treatment, 2) dental treatment and a report on their disease risk and 3) dental treatment, a report, and a program to improve their dental health. The participants had data … Read more

Prior gum disease increases cancer risk

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Researchers have found that postmenopausal women who had prior gum disease have a higher risk of cancer. The study was conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo. The study is the first to find an association between periodontal disease and gallbladder cancer risk in women or men. The study also provided useful information on a number of cancer-specific sites. The study included 65,869 postmenopausal women who were part of the Women’s Health Initiative, an ongoing national prospective study designed to investigate factors affecting disease and death risk in older U.S. women. Most women were non-Hispanic and the average age was 68. Participants were asked “has a dentist or dental hygienist ever told you that you had periodontal or gum disease?” Those women who had a history of gum disease had a 14% increased risk of overall cancer. A total of 7,149 … Read more

Photoacoustic Imaging for Periodontal Health in Humans

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Recently on this website research exploring using photoacoustic imaging for periodontal probe depths from University of California, San Diego, using swine models was discussed. This same group has since published an article titled “Photoacoustic imaging for monitoring periodontal health: A first human study,” by Moore et al. in Photoacoustics (vol. 12, pp. 67-74, 2018, published online November 01, 2018) where they show that a photoacoustic-ultrasound imaging approach can image the full depths and geometries of pockets in healthy human adults. Traditionally ultrasound uses the principle sound in and sound out but the photoacoustic-ultrasound approach uses light in, sound out. The advantageous of such an approach over traditional radiography is that it can image soft issue and that it does not cause ionizing radiation. The conventional method for dentists to monitor gingival health in humans is with a periodontal probe. This … Read more