Hygiene/Periodontal Health

Dental Hygiene/Periodontal Health

While at our office, we make sure that you receive the highest level of service and ensure that our dental work is of the highest quality. To ensure that you maintain great oral health, this level of quality needs to extend into your personal oral hygiene routine. Dental diseases like cavities and periodontal bone loss are caused by the presence of bacteria. We can help you establish a dental hygiene routine that will keep your teeth and gums healthy and keep you smiling!

Your teeth are not the only important part of your mouth. Your gums are essential to oral hygiene as well. We can provide periodontal cleanings and treatment, or refer you to one of our recommended specialists. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Oral cancer screenings

Oral cancer screenings are a very important part of the dental visit for the patient. With the advances in modern technology, we are now able to pinpoint the start of a potential problem much earlier in its evolution. The ability to do so is extremely important in being able to treat any issues prior to them becoming a major irreversible problem.

Certain lifestyle choices can have a great impact on the health of tissues and your overall health in the mouth. If you are a smoker or heavy drinker, make sure to get regular screenings when you visit the dentist.

Root Planing

Often there is plaque and tartar that accumulates below the gum line. During your appointment, we will clean and smooth this area with special instruments to remove any tartar, stain, and bacteria from the root surface of the tooth. While root planing and scaling treatment will not cause the bone and tissue to re-grow, it can prevent further bone and tissue loss. If this area is not kept clean the disease process will be re-activated by the bacteria that resides in the tartar and plaque . It's very important to have Dr. Butler check this area if you have bleeding during brushing.

Many dentists have and currently still use a form of antibiotics to treat the "pockets" around the teeth after scaling and root planing. Dr. Butler prefers to use ozone therapy to assist in healing and controlling the periodontal bacteria.

Dr. Butler works with OralDNA Labs to provide a salivary diaagnostics test. The saliva test is quite easy: the patient swishes a saline solution in his or her mouth and spits it into a tube that is sent offsite to OralDNA Labs. The results are then sent back to our office with a recommended treatment plan. Did you know that 11 different types of bacteria can trigger periodontal disease?

Dental Ozone

Dr. Butler has invested in dental ozone therapy equipment that can help you control and treat gingivitis and periodontal disease. We can use ozonated water and various ozonated oils to help you decontaminate your mouth in the office and at home. For serious periodontal problems we can formulate custom trays and apply ozone gas at regular intervals which helps control bacteria and reduces the inflammatory process while increasing healing. This can eliminate the need for antibiotics. **Many oral bacteria are becoming resistant to common antibiotics in use today.

Xylitol and Salivary pH

One of the most overlooked portions of your oral health is the pH of your body tissues (including saliva!). Due to the nature of modern processed foods and our stressed-out lifestyles many people are functioning in an acidic (and toxic) body environment. If your saliva has lost the buffering ability it is supposed to have then you are much more likely to experience decay-even if you brush and floss daily! Our office does salivary pH testing and caries risk assessment to determine if you are at risk and provide you with a plan of action to prevent future decay.

We recommend Xylitol gum and/or mints after each meal. We also recommend xylitol containing toothpaste and mouthwash. We would be happy to formulate a custom hygiene regimen for you!

*Much of this information was taken from an original article published in Oral Health Journal, December 2009. The author is Dr. Fay Goldstep.

Dr. Fay Goldstep sits on the Oral Health Editorial Board (Healing/Preventive Dentistry), has served on the teaching faculties of the Post-graduate Programs in Esthetic Dentistry at SUNY Buffalo, the Universities of Florida (Gainesville), Minnesota (Minneapolis), and has been a featured speaker in the ADA Seminar Series. She has lectured nationally and internationally on Healing Dentistry, Innovations in Hygiene, Dentist Health Issues and Office Design, and has published numerous articles, on these topics.