{"id":901,"date":"2019-02-25T13:44:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T13:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=901"},"modified":"2019-02-25T13:44:44","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T13:44:44","slug":"life-saver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/life-saver\/","title":{"rendered":"LIFE SAVER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"213\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/26429594011_77cf38146b_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"906\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=906\" class=\"wp-image-906\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/26429594011_77cf38146b_n.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/26429594011_77cf38146b_n-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve heard\nit before \u2013 three in four adults over 35 have some form of gum disease. And a\npreponderance of new clinical research reveals that gum disease poses a far\ngreater threat to health than just losing a tooth. Periodontal disease may\nactually increase your risk for a variety of health concerns including heart\nattacks, low birth weight babies, diabetes and stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Isadore\nRosenfield, Health Editor of PARADE magazine \u2013 \u201cPeople with chronically infected\ngums have twice as much heart disease as the rest of us. We have an imperative\nto treat gum disease \u2013 to save not only teeth but also patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. Steven\nOffenbacher, director of the Center for Oral and Systemic Disease at the\nUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill \u2013 \u201cIn many ways, periodontal\ndisease is like high blood pressure \u2013 it\u2019s painless and only becomes evident\nwhen it\u2019s quite severe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All gum\ndisease begins with the accumulation of plaque, a sticky deposit of bacteria,\nmucus and food particles that build up along the gum line and between the\nteeth. Plaque can cause gingivitis \u2013 inflammation of the gums. Plaque must be\nremoved daily to prevent buildup. Brushing and flossing, coupled with a minimum\nof twice-yearly professional cleanings, will combat gingivitis in most people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a\nstrong genetic component to periodontal disease. One of the questions I always\nask my patients is whether or not they know their familial history with regards\nto gum disease. If a patient says, \u201cWell, my parents both had dentures\u201d, then\nthere is a strong possibility that patient has the gene for gum disease. There\nare only two main reasons that people lose teeth \u2013 gum disease and decay \u2013 and\nthe prior is far more likely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If gingivitis\nis not treated, or is treated too late, the result can become periodontitis.\nThis occurs when plaque invades beneath the gum, turning into a hard substance\ncalled tartar or calculus. Calculus can only be removed during a professional\ncleaning. At the stage, skilled care is essential to stave off tooth loss. In\nmore advanced cases, a procedure called scaling and root planing is performed\nto remove hidden plaque and tartar from below the gum line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you have\ngum disease? Warning signs may not be evident to you but may include red,\nswollen, tender, bleeding or receding gums; loose teeth; persistent bad breath;\nchanges in tooth position; and the development of pockets between gums and\nteeth. It used to be that your dentist could only diagnose periodontal disease\nfrom x-rays that showed loss of bone around teeth. Today, gum disease and\nperiodontal disease can be successfully treated BEFORE teeth get loose from\nbone loss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your hygienist\nand dentist can measure the pockets and bleeding points around your teeth and\ninstitute non-surgical treatment before you suffer the irreversible bone\ndestruction of periodontal disease. So remember \u2013 the hygienists of the 21<sup>st<\/sup>\ncentury don\u2019t just clean teeth \u2013 THEY SAVE LIVES!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr. St. Clair\nmaintains a private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to\nhealth-centered family dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to\nsee written about or questions you have please email them to him at <a href=\"mailto:jpstclair@stclairdmd.com\">jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\">www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve heard it before \u2013 three in four adults over 35 have some form of gum disease. And a preponderance of new clinical research reveals that gum disease poses a far greater threat to health than just losing a tooth. Periodontal disease may actually increase your risk for a variety of health concerns including heart attacks, low birth weight babies, diabetes and stroke. Dr. Isadore Rosenfield, Health Editor of PARADE magazine \u2013 \u201cPeople with chronically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":907,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}