Periodontal disease is actually around
Periodontal disease is a common chronic disease represented by chronic periodontitis. According to the authoritative disease survey in China, 89% of adults suffer from this disease.
Moreover, periodontal disease has become the primary cause of tooth loss among adults, accounting for more than 80%.
Some people will say: Dr. Xu, you are making it up. If so many people have periodontal disease, why didn’t I see the people around me have this problem?
This is an illusion.
Periodontal disease is actually around us, but it has changed its face: acute attack of periodontal disease leads to periodontal abscess, gum swelling and pain, and dare not bite.
Who knows whether these are temporary solutions but not permanent solutions, periodontal diseases will still come back from time to time, and countless delicacies will be blamed for the rest of their lives. Litchi, hot pot, seafood, malatang, mutton… In fact, these are all periodontal diseases.
As we get older, we eat and plug our teeth, our teeth loosen one after another, and our front teeth are sewn. One by one, our teeth leave us. The more dentures we make, the more dentures we eventually replace them with full dentures. We think this is [when people get old, the parts are useless], and even we have evolved the foolish view that if we don’t lose our teeth when we get old, it will affect our children’s transportation. In fact, this is also periodontal disease.
Typical symptom is bleeding from brushing teeth.
Are you a little scared? But why do we always feel that we are a [patient] when periodontal disease has such serious consequences?
Because periodontal disease is really too low-key, it often destroys our oral health bit by bit in more than ten years or decades under [unconsciously] circumstances.
Periodontal disease does not have that kind of deadly toothache in the early stage. For a long time, it is often just a little change in the color and texture of the gums, and there will be blood streaks when brushing teeth. You don’t think it’s a big deal, but the gums are already in an unhealthy state.
Strangely, if the palm of our hand bleeds when washing our hands, we will be very nervous and concerned. But when it comes to the mouth, it seems that this is not the case. Gingival bleeding is always ignored by us.
In fact, this is periodontal disease and your first step towards the abyss of missing teeth.
Thorough treatment of the cause of the disease
To sum up briefly, the primary cause of periodontal disease is dirty teeth, which constantly stimulate gums and lead to periodontal disease.
Why does periodontal disease cause gum bleeding? Because the body wants to destroy those dirty things through immune cells in the blood.
Why does periodontal disease cause gum atrophy? Because the gums try to stay away from the dirt on the teeth in this way.
Why does periodontal disease cause tooth loosening? Because the bones around the root are absorbed and destroyed under long-term inflammation, the teeth lose support.
Why does periodontal disease cause halitosis? Because those dirty things secrete a lot of smelly substances.
Therefore, from the perspective of etiology, the treatment of periodontal disease is not complicated, only the teeth need to be cleaned.
However, first of all, we must understand that the [dirty things] that need to be cleaned up are what.
It is dental plaque, a bacterial community that grows on the surface of teeth, and these bacteria are the main culprit causing periodontal disease.
When it comes to bacteria, some friends said, we have great tricks, antibiotics! Unfortunately, there is no place to use antibiotics here. Whether it is cephalosporins or other what tablets, they all reach the infected place through blood to play a role after eating them in the stomach. But dental plaque is on the teeth. There are no blood vessels around, so the drug effect is difficult to achieve.
Moreover, the adhesion between dental plaque and tooth surface is quite firm, and it cannot be removed from tooth surface by rinsing with the strength of water flow. Only by mechanical brushing can it be cleaned up.
Dental plaque will also be calcified in the oral cavity to form dental calculus, which is even more difficult to remove.
It is firmly attached to the teeth and poisons the gums day and night. It must be removed by the dentist’s special tools, that is, tooth washing.
Friends who have washed their teeth all have experience. Accompanied by bursts of acid and refreshing, pieces of tartar were shattered from their teeth and washed away with the current.
Is it true that we can completely prevent periodontal disease as long as we wash our teeth regularly? Twice a year! Two is not enough, three!
Unfortunately, this is not going to work either.
Bacteria are eternal symbiosis with the human body in the oral cavity. As long as we are still alive, bacteria will live more moist than us. Fortunately, bacteria need a considerable amount and time to make waves. Although they cannot be completely eliminated, we can reduce their number, disrupt their pace of life and give them no chance to destroy them.
The reproduction of bacteria is rapid and efficient, and a few hours is enough [four generations live together]. It is difficult to maintain the long-term stability of the oral environment by professional cleaning once or twice a year.
Therefore, what we need more is to brush our teeth twice a day to ensure oral health.
After washing my teeth, I often say to patients: [I account for 3% of the treatment of periodontal disease and you account for 7%. Today, by washing your teeth, your mouth is completely cleaned. If you go back to brush your teeth well, this effect can be maintained very well, and you still have 20 teeth by the age of 80. If you still can’t brush it clean, you can grow calculus again in a week and your gums will continue to shrink.]
Therefore, after a lot of talk, we finally got to our topic: periodontal disease, three points for treatment and seven points for maintenance.
How?
At present, the recognized plaque cleaning method is mechanical cleaning plus chemical bacteriostasis, that is, cleaning cloth plus detergent.
Mechanical cleaning, mainly toothbrushes and dental floss, choose scientific equipment and scientific methods to ensure that every side of the tooth can be brushed. For specific methods, see < < Over the years, your brushing method may be wrong > >.
Chemical bacteriostasis, mainly toothpaste and mouthwash, has long been used to improve friction efficiency. Various active ingredients in toothpaste can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria in the oral cavity for a long time, prevent bacteria from adhering to the tooth surface, and allow teeth to be clean until the next brush.
At present, there are many researches, and stannous fluoride is the one with better effect.
When I was in the United States, some scholars took out such a group of pictures to illustrate the antibacterial effect of stannous fluoride. This is a picture taken with special fluorescence technology, with dental plaque highlighted above. The three pictures from top to bottom are after brushing teeth in the morning, before brushing teeth at night and before brushing teeth the next morning. On the left is the standard toothpaste without stannous fluoride, and on the right is the toothpaste containing stannous fluoride.
As a result, it is obvious that stannous fluoride can kill more bacteria and the cleaning effect lasts longer.
One of the health standards proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) is: [Clean teeth, no dental caries, no pain, normal gum color, no bleeding.]
Dr. Xu’s consistent thinking is “flagship oral products”. Our aim is to save money for dentures and buy toothpaste and electric toothbrushes.
For the sake of health, please use toothpaste containing stannous fluoride and brush your teeth carefully twice a day.