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Trying to avoid bone loss surgery in mouth

Posted By Hutchbeach (Santa Monica, Ca, Usa) on 10/23/2010

I have an infected gum and was given a 10 day course of clindamycin. Going to the periodontist on tuesday and want to try to get the tissue of the gum as healthy as possible. The dentist says he can see bone loss on the xray and that I will probably need surgery. Trying to avoid that. Please help.

Replied by Dent (Boston, Ma) on 10/23/2010

Hello,
Good oral hygiene will help to create a healthy environment in the mouth and fight oral disease. Regular, gentle, brushing and regular flossing (or some equivalent that will clean the areas between the teeth, for example, a simple interdental brush--the tiny ones that look like a bottle cleaner or a water pik, etc. ) are simple, yet very effective ways to prevent or even cure periodontal disease. There is good and bad bacteria in the mouth, the bad ones particularly like acidity and actually require acidity to thrive. They also prefer areas where they can hide and not be washed away by saliva. They help each other to hang on to the teeth by creating a biofilm, that is, simply clumping up so that the bacteria on the outside protects the ones inside. As one can guess, the areas between the teeth are perfect to hide and colonize the mouth. If food is left between the teeth, the bugs use it to grow. Soon, the tissue around the tooth, once firm and healthy, tightly surrounding the tooth, becomes inflamed, red (as opposed to a healthy pink), puffy, it bleeds, becomes loose and bacteria can penetrate deeper areas, including the surrounding bone. The body perceives the "attack" and responds (inflammatory response) by trying to destroy the invaders, but ends up causing some damage to the gums themselves.

In simpler terms, the gums, are caught in the fight, and change, are not able to do their job, of protecting the tooth by hanging on to it's neck tightly--like a turtleneck, become like a cowlneck. The goods news is that with regular cleaning, things can be improved. The key is to be gentle, brush GENTLY (most of us brush too hard--use soft or even extra soft toothbrush), take your time, the motion itself does not matter much, just make sure that ALL of your teeth are brushed and flossed, even it there is bleeding, floss gently and things should improve. Flossing is a habit, if your are not in the habit of flossing every day, floss at least a couple of days a week and work your way up to once a day (before going to bed) and again, there are alternatives to flossing. Lastly, please do not bathe your teeth in sugary "whatevers", drink it a once and them brush, rinse well--remember sugar is what bacteria wants and needs to live.

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